Toys for our little boy

We're done shopping for the major baby items that we need! We have a crib, a playard, a steam sterilizer, a breast pump, a gazillion bottles, and clothes. YES! There are still a couple of items that we need to buy, like the Jellybean Sling, a sturdy carrier, and about a dozen more Chino Pinos, but those can wait.

Now that we've crossed the major items on our list, my OHA and I can concentrate on buying fun stuff for our LBJC. NINTENDO DS LITE! Oooops, that's for mommy. Teehee.

There's this really cool waterfall soother from Fisher-Price that I really like. I just don't know if it's available locally.

My OHA wants to buy this for our LBJC:
Actually, we have a super long list of toys that we want to buy. Here are some of the items from that list:

Lamaze First Mirror

Lamaze My First Fishbowl


Lamaze Musical Inchworm

Lamaze Catch & Glow Bug Jar

Lamaze Balancing Bug Stacker

Pepper Lunch photos

Here are photos from our dinner at Pepper Lunch. We would've taken more photos but we were afraid that we might overcook the meat. So instead of taking a gazillion shots, we took a couple of shots, then we attacked the oh-so-yummy food.

Here's OHA's cut steak and hamburger combo:



Here's my Pepper Rice:

We're going there again tomorrow, and I'll try my hardest to take better pictures. Maybe I'll even have the chance to capture it on video.

OMG, I'm so excited to go there again!

Approximately 29 hours to go!

Pepper Lunch!!!

Guess where my OHA and I are eating dinner later? :p

Here are some clues:
1. It's local franchise of the diy steak restaurant from Japan
2. It's in Rockwell
3. It has branches in Singapore, Korea, US, Australia, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand

Since I know how annoying guessing games are, I'll just tell you. We're eating in...

(drumroll please!)

Yay! Pepper Lunch!

I'm super excited to eat there. I've been salivating over the pepper rice for the past couple of days, while my OHA's been craving for the cut steak and hamburger combo. He also wants the Shake! Shake! Salad.

I brought our camera so I can take pictures of the lurvely food and post it here.

My Favorite Flash Game of the Moment

It's simple but so addictive that I'm almost tempted to eat sushi myself. Almost...but not quite.

Today's my first year anniversary at work. I didn't think I would last this long, but I'm glad I did. There were a lot of things that were bothering me before about my job, and I didn't think I'd weather it out.

I owe it all to my colleagues. They're wonderfully understanding and they made my transition easier. When I left my old job, I was really depressed because I thought that I wouldn't be as close to my new colleagues as I was with my old colleagues.

My old colleagues and I always had fun together. Since our editor was not strict about work skeds, we'd go to Starbucks during office hours and smoke about a pack of cigarettes just talking about random stuff. We'd go to Greenbelt and take two to three-hour lunch breaks. I guess I could say that we've cultivated our friendship through fun activities.

I couldn't forget how bitter I was to leave it all behind. That was a year ago. Fast forward to a year later, I could say that I'm no longer unhappy. I've gotten quite close to my colleagues. Though we don't hangout with each other outside the office, we've bonded with each other really well. I guess it helps to have a difficult boss. If with old colleagues, the basis of our friendship was all about fun, with my new colleagues, it was all about stress.

We encounter a lot of problems in our line of work (or maybe it's just me because this is the first time I went corporate) and it takes out a lot on all of us. A difficult boss also adds tremendously to the stress. The only good thing that came out of the situation is that it brought us together. We cheer up each other, we encourage each other, and we support each other. Although I very much appreciate the kind of relationship I have with my old colleagues, I'm more grateful to my new colleagues because they have helped me more in terms of personal growth. My new colleagues made a stronger impact in my life.

This doesn't mean that I'm not at all grateful to my old colleagues. I AM VERY GRATEFUL. The time I spent with my old colleagues were two of the happiest years of my life. The only reason now why I'm more grateful to my new colleagues is because they were there for me during the hardest time of my transition period--meaning my first few months here at my new job. Those were the times that I needed friends the most.

My new colleagues do not know about this blog, but just the same, I want to thank them. Thank them for welcoming me into the group. And I want to thank my OHA. Thank you for helping me cope and for understanding me. I love you.

Happy anniversary to me.

Busy bee

I've been busy with work and baby preparations that I hardly have time to rest properly, let alone write a new post. I do have a lot of things to write about, I just need time to organize my thoughts. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ok, time's up.

Here's what's I've been up to:

1. I had to go see an orthopedic last week to have my ingrown toenail checked. This is the second time I've had an ingrown toenail and I thought that this second time was a lot better than the first time because it didn't bother me as much as it did before. Good thing I had it checked because this second time is actually worse since the nail got really embedded on the right side of my toe!

Long story short, I underwent surgery last Saturday to get rid of the stupid ingrown. The doctor said it was a good thing that I decided to have it removed because it might just get infected and that would've been worse for my LBJC and I. I wasn't allowed to take any painkillers (oh joy), but I was asked to take antibiotics. The only brand I can take is Augmentin because it's the only brand that's safe for babies. It's about P89.00 per tablet (I so did not want to spend on this) and I had to take it three times a day.

I took the last tablet today (hurrah!) and boy, am I glad that it's over. Augmentin gave me tummy troubles! It made me feel bloated and gassy. I hate it.

The next time I get tempted to cut my toenails too short (I really like cutting 'em short) or the next time I get tempted to wear ill-fitting shoes (If there's a cute pair of shoes that I like and the only one available is one size smaller, I buy them anyway because they're...well, cute), I'll just remind myself that it's not at all fun to deal with an ingrown toenail.

Some people have it easy because they can have their ingrown toenails removed by their faithful pedicurists, but for some reason, I REALLY CAN'T TAKE THE PAIN! Why am I not like those people? Oh well. I think I'll throw my nipper away. The doctor said I should just cut it straight and that I should not use a nipper to shape the sides because that's how you get ingrown toenails.

2. I've gotten so big. REALLY BIG! It's getting harder and harder for me to move around by myself. Shifting positions in bed takes a lot out of me. I can't wait to give birth so that I can feel "light" again! Of course, that's not the only reason why I want to give birth already. The ULTIMATE reason is that I'm super excited to meet my LBJC. I want to hold him already!

I still have seven weeks to go before I give birth. Hopefully, he's not in a breech presentation anymore. Tomorrow, when we go to our OB's clinic, we'll find out if I'm delivering him normally or through a Caesarian section.

3. My in-laws saved us a ton of money! How? They gave us a baby crib, a playard, linens, and a sterilizer! Thank God my in-laws bought the big items on our to-buy list. Now the only big thing on that list is a breast pump.

We haven't seen the crib, but my mother-in-law said it was pretty big. The playard that we got was the Pooh Graco playard. OHA and I aren't crazy about Pooh, but hey, we got it for free so we're not complaining! The sterilizer that we got was the Avent steam sterilizer.

Here are the new bebe thingamajigs (images taken from the web since I don't have photos of the actual loot yet):

Avent steam sterilizer

Graco playard
(Same color and style as our playard, but different design pattern)

3. My OHA and I watched Iron Man last April 30. I loved the movie! I'm not that big a comic book fan, but seeing Iron Man is making me want to read comics. I want to see it again, but I don't think I'll have the time.

I think my LBJC also enjoyed the movie because he was kicking up a storm during the movie! My OHA was quite proud and said, "That's my boy!"

Before we watched the movie, my friends and I decided to eat in Barrio Fiesta because I wanted to eat sinigang and it's been ages since I last ate there. When I was a kid, I used to love Barrio Fiesta because their sinigang and crispy pata were top notch. Their sinigang's still good but the other dishes we ordered were just so-so. The nice surprise was their sisig! It was so yumpy! Too bad their servings are really small. AND EXPENSIVE. Which sucks big time. Well, the food's really not that expensive but the price is somehow not proportionate to how small their servings are. I think I would've been happier in Triple V.

4. I've been playing Virtual Villagers a lot lately. I didn't think I would get into this game because it takes so long for anything interesting to happen. I find it surprising that I immensely enjoyed playing the game. I've downloaded part one and part two, but so far, I've only played the first part.

My OHA said VV is like The Sims. I've never played The Sims so I wouldn't really know. It was boring at first, but as soon as I started unlocking the puzzles, I found it more interesting. I've unlocked ten or 11 puzzles out of 16 in the game. I've reached level two on the technologies, except for farming and construction becuse I'm already on the third level with those two.

Kool Fever insta-pets

About a month ago, I went on leave for a week due to a really bad case of flu. Since I couldn't get out of bed, I asked my OHA to stock up on Fern-C and Kool Fever. My OHA, however, doesn't know what Kool Fever is so he looked it up online just to make sure what it looks like.

After surfing, he bought my flu supplies and told me that we have to do a "project" involving Kool Fever. It was something he picked up online and he was dying to try it out. I couldn't imagine what we could do with a silicon patch, but believe me, producing an alien-looking worm was the farthest thing from my mind. That's exactly what we came up with.

We soaked discarded patches of Kool Fever in water. After a couple of hours, we had insta-pets that looked like this:

If ever you're sick, buy a couple of patches of Kool Fever and try this little experiment :) This will certainly brighten your day (if you're crazy and demented like OHA and I).

Cravings

I want to sink my teeth on these yumpies right now:

Unfortunately, I think See's is not available locally and I'm too cheap to buy a pack of the Mauna Loas (you won't believe how much the local supermarkets jacked up the price of these babies) so I'll just have to settle on a more economical alternative, like the Van Houten whole hazelnut chocula (the teeny tiny pack) or Ritter Sport hazelnut chocula. I'll buy those during lunch break.

I don't think there are strawberries in Pioneer so those can wait. Besides, I prefer eating strawberries with Cool Whip. In case my EQ plummets and I give in to the strawberry craving, I can go to Ice Monster to get strawberry ice!

Happy burp*day

I celebrated my 25th birthday last April 20. On the days leading up to my birthday, I was busy planning for a "unique" celebration since it's my first "married" birthday. I wanted it to be special because it was also my "last" birthday alone with my OHA. Next year, we'll be with LBJC. Yay!

As the 20th loomed closer, I felt panic mounting since I still haven't planned anything yet. Little did I know that while I was busting my head for ideas, my OHA was conspiring with my colleagues to throw me a surprise party! Here's how they pulled off the party:

On the 17th, my boss asked me to go with her to a meeting in Makati. She asked me to pick her up in her condo around 930 AM so we could go to the meeting together. When I got to her building, she asked me to go to her unit and snack on something since she still wan't done dressing up.

When I got to her unit, she offered me a gazillion things to munch on but I settled for the good, old Prima toast because I was trying to eat "healthier." After a while, she asked me to change my dress (I was wearing a black dress) because she's also planning on wearing a black dress and she doesn't want us showing up at Valero wearing matching outfits. I was taken aback but I didn't say anything because she's my boss. Besides, I couldn't refuse the lovely blue, green, and white Armani dress she was giving me.

So long story short, I changed into the dress. After a while, she told me that there was some emergency in Valero and that the meeting was cancelled. She told me to just go to Intercon with her to pick up spa gift certificates for the media. After about an hour in Suriya, she told me that she has to pick something up in Greenbelt so I said ok. She led me to Red Box where we saw Allan from Innove. They were talking about Jay being late for their meeting in one of the rooms there.

I was wondering why we were meeting in Red Box because there are like a gazillion other places in Greenbelt where we can have a nice, quiet meeting. My boss was talking to Allan so she told me to go on ahead and enter the "meeting room." When I entered Room 11, there were Happy Birthday signs on the billiard table and on the screen. I was kind of hungry that time so I was a little out of it and I totally didn't get it.

I looked at my boss and asked her, "What's going on?" That's when everyone started singing happy birthday. Yay! I can't believe they were able to pull this off without me finding out. We were always together so I don't really know when they planned the party.

On the 18th, I decided to treat my office mates to lunch (OHA joined in). Since we have limited options here in Pioneer, we went to Grilla. We had a cholesterol-laden feast that day. Since I forgot to take pictures, I'll just list down our orders:

-fried quail eggs
-grilled mussels with garlic and cheese
-chicharon bulaklak
-pork sisig
-chicken barbeque
-inihaw na baboy
-lechon kawali
-grilled tuna belly
-chicharon rice

Since we had an appointment with our OB on the same day, my OHA and I decided to have a mini-celebration for dinner. We went to Claw Daddy in Shangri-La. Here's what we ordered:


-Chicken Fried Pork Chop with Andoville Gravy (mine)


-Shrimp and Oyster Poboy (OHA's)



On the 19th, OHA and I went to my house to celebrate with my family. My sister wasn't with us that time so we just ate a simple but yumpy dinner of pancit canton (my request since I've been craving for this for like, weeks) and grilled liempo. There were other dishes as well but I don't remember what they were.


On the 20th, my family and I went to Mall of Asia to hunt for a good place to eat lunch. Out of all the restaurants there, I honestly didn't understand how we wound up in Burgoo. Here's what we ordered:


-Large chicken tender fingers



-Seafood Caesar supreme

-Large N'Awlins classic platter

-Hamburgoo (I dunno where the sides went!)

-Tomato and basil pasta (I was busy eating when this arrived so I wasn't able to take a picture)

On the 21st (yes, I went on leave), I bought four pies from Amici for OHA's family. Since I was craving for chicken fingers, I told OHA that I wanted to go to Friday's and that we should just call Amici to place our order. I told him that we could pick up the pies on our way home. He agreed (thank God) so here's what we ordered:

-Cajun chicken fingers (mine)

-Classic cheeseburger (OHA's)


After our meal, we went to Amici to pick up the order. I got two Tutta Carne pies, one Quattro Formaggi pie, and one Prosciutto e Funghi pie. Oh and macapuno gelato. Since I was too lazy to take pictures of the pies individually, I asked OHA to just "pose" with the boxes :)



Whew! That's how I celebrated my 25th birthday--with a lot of food :) I wasn't able to come up with something to make my birthday unique, but my 5-day celebration more than makes up for my lack of planning skills.

I'm very happy, though, that my OHA was there with me on all the mini-celebrations. That's really what made my birthday happy.

Balikbayan box love

I forgot to post about this, but my OHA and I finally got our baby goodies! My LBJC's thingamajigs have arrived from the States! They're so purty and cute. I can't wait until my LBJC's born so he can use his awesome thingamajigs.

Among our purchases, my favorite's probably the Playtex Drop-Ins Nurser. It's so very groovy! I wish I remembered to transfer the pics from our camera so I could post it here. Maybe I'll post it when I get home. I have a lot of free time later anyway since my OHA will be home late.

Ooooooh, before I forget, I finally finished seasons one to three of CSI: NY! I bought the DVD in Metrowalk in 2007 but I completely forgot about it until I unearthed my copy last Holy Week. I just finished episode 24 of Season 3 last night (or was it the other night?) and now I can't wait to get my hands on the complete CSI: NY Season 4. Too bad the season's not done yet.

Now, I'm too impatient to wait for a couple more months to go to Metrowalk to check if the complete Season 4 DVD's already available so I just downloaded Episodes 1-16 from Torrent. Maybe I'll start on season 4 tonight. I can watch a couple of episodes while waiting for my OHA :)
Edited: April 23

Here are the bottles we bought:

We also got additional gifts from my OHA's aunt and uncle:

Babies make me happy

This post is about all the babies in my life :) In a two months, I'll be adding pictures of the number one baby in my life, my LBJC

NS (my sister's son)

AS (my sister's daughter)

MG (my cousin's daughter)

Adi-post :)

My OHA and I were finally able to watch the first episode of Doctor Who Season 4! After months and months of waiting for David Tennant to flash his trademark smile before boarding the TARDIS, we finally got our fix yesterday. It was worth the wait.

Lookee lookee at the teeny Adipose creatures from the first episode:

Aren't they cute?

I can't wait until they bring back Rose!

Lookee lookee!

Look at what I got last Friday! Isn't it purty?

Sony Ericsson K770i

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/k770i?cc=ph&lc=en