Lazy day

Today we went to church for our Sunday obligation then headed to Mc Donalds for our quick lunch. We visit my MIL after our lunch then went to the mall to look at some curtains that hubby shopped last night thru the internet. We were on our way home when I suddenly felt hungry so I told hubby to go to Red Robin for dinner. Now we're home, tired and sleepy. My body is aching from the exercise I did yesterday. What a day! I hope tomorrow I'll have more energy to exercise again and do chores. :)

Exercise and Dance Like Crazy

Well, that's what I did today while hubby is out to have his hair cut. I first install the Wii system and play the Tennis for exercise but I thought it's kinda boring so everytime I scored, I jump like a kid. I then started enjoying the tennis game after winning 4 times and lose once for the first time. Whoah! I'm impressed with myself winning 4 times in a row and losing once only. I played bowling once after I played the tennis but it's boring so I grab my CD and started dancing. I grab my hoolahoop (don't know if it's the right spelling) and play with it too while Claira was I think wondering of what's going on with me. hahaha She liked the music though and dance while sitting on the floor by raising her butt. It was fun and I was sweating and almost out of breath as if there's a dog running after me. But I took a break everytime I felt that my mouth is dry, drink half a glass of water then go back to dancing like crazy. I want to do this everyday to boost my energy and to get rid of my baby fat. Well, good luck to me! ^_^

Mama's girl

I noticed that to our little one that she's a mama's girl. For the last two nights, she doesn't sleep until I play with her and made her laugh. I tried not to keep on rocking her to sleep coz she might get used to it. I don't know why she clings to me more than to her dad. And whenever I go out with my friends, she becomes a cry baby or fussy with daddy til I arrive home unless daddy will give all his time and attention to her then she won't be as fussy. I like it though that she like mommy but I think it's better that she like daddy too. I'm concern that hubby might get hurt if Claira just keep on calling my name and not hubby's.

Romantic Tour for Two

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dr Oetker. All opinions are 100% mine.

The title itself sounds good but that would be even better if it’s free. And who doesn’t want free these days with the bad economy we have today? I guess everybody wanted everything for free nowadays, right? Well, there’s a contest going on today that will end February 15, 2010. It’s Dr Oetker Adventure Romantica Contest and I think you noticed that it’s after Valentines Day. The contest is only for Canadians which mean I’m not allowed to join coz I’m here in US, too bad. Oh well, maybe someday there’s a contest that will also include a child, that’s better than the tour for two so we can bring Claira with us. Anyways, the contest is about an eleven days Italian wine tour for two and that also include a complete romantic meals, sight seeing and more. How good is that? And that’s not all. There are one hundred thousand and eight Instant Win Prizes too. Isn’t that great or what? This contest is really fun. So Canadians, take your chances coz you might be the lucky winner. This is a good and belated Valentines Day celebration with your loved one. And whoever won this contest, I wish you joy and happiness. Good luck and have fun on the tour!

Pregnancy Pact

That's the title of the movie I watched on TV yesterday while Claira had her nap. It's been a while since I last watch a movie or a show on TV that involves bad behaviour after Claira was born. The book that I've been reading about babies said not to let the baby watch TV until the baby is 2 yrs old. I thought of doing it but TV helped me to have time for myself or do chores in the house but of course we're careful of what Claira's watching. I've been watching food network, HGTV and TLC while I'm pregnant and those are the same channels I watch every now and then except TLC coz some of the shows there involves bad attitudes. Babies like to imitate what they see and I noticed that from Claira. Even cartoons are showing bad attitudes so Claira is not watching that too. She's only watching baby einstein DVDs, Food Network, and HGTV. I sometimes watch Oprah and the local News but if there's something that Claira shouldn't watch, I changed the channel and hubby did the same thing too.

Old pics

Hubby finally found the old pics I hid somewhere when we were still in the apartment. I was looking for my old pics but I can't find them so I thought, maybe they'll show up one day. They did show up when we moved in our house. Hubby showed me what he found and I was happy to see them again. Here are some of my old pics. :)

Me and my sister in Bohol. The tarsiers were so cute!

Graduation pic when I was in College (short hair pa)

Me and my best friend in College

Me with a light make up. The gay in the studio did my make up coz it's part of the package but I've been told many times that I looked like a gay if I wore make up. I think I looked ok in this pic.

Me with my College Classmates at Bohol Beach Club during our Excursion.

Good friends, good foods

I had a good time yesterday chit chatting, eating and laughing with my Pinay friends. It's really good to have nice friends around whom you can talk to every now and then, eat with the foods you love back home and laughing with our very own Pinoy jokes. Here are some of the foods we shared with friends. ^_^

Yummy dried fish

Chicken with tomato sauce (i think)

Fried pork chop (taste like adobo) and fried chicken. Deliciouso!

Fried Galunggong. Fantastico!

Fried Tilapia. (lami gihapon)

Fried dried fish and dried squid. (lalam jud)

Shrimp sinigang. Yummy

Buko fruit salad.

Money, where are you?

That's what other people say. But I know where our money went coz I've been recording our Monthly expenses thru Microsoft Excel in my laptop. I've been keeping receipts too thinking that I might exchange or return an item later which happened every now and then. Keeping the receipts really helped me track our spending habits but that's not enough. I thought that recording expenses and knowing where the money goes is a good idea that a couple should do but reading about money from experts changed my views. I started writing down the amount that I want to save (for emergency purposes) for one month and then divide the remaining amount for 31 days. In that way, I know how much money that we can spend in 1 day, 1 week and 1 month. At first I thought it's easy but seeing the written numbers surprised me and that's the reality. I never thought that we're spending more than we should. I learned something from Melissa d' Arabian the new winner of The Next Food Network Star when she mentioned that she made a recipe out of her pantry when she overspent buying clothes for her little girls. That words struck me. I should do the same coz our pantry is overflowing and we run out of room for the new items that we just bought. Anyways, I handed hubby my written down budget the other night after dinner and he said "I can do that". He admitted that he made some impulse buy lately and will try not to do it again. Well, we both made mistakes and admitting it is a good start. So now we're planning to beat the temptation from buying unwanted items and hoping for a successful Victory in the end. This time, we'll try our best. :)

Women and Money

Money is very important while you're still alive so let's talk a little about it. Most women doesn't know how to handle money correctly or let's say doesn't have a good relationship with their money. Yes, that's what Suze Orman said that we should have a good relationship with our money or else we'll be in trouble for not liking it. Money should be our friend and not our enemy. I know that some women don't want to deal with numbers (like me) because we thought that numbers are only good for men. But what if the man in your life is not there anymore? Will you still be in good shape or you'll be in trouble? Not learning to like numbers is not good and we know that. So as early as now, we should know our relationship with money. Girls are born to shop but we have to learn also how to control ourself when to stop shopping and say no to impulse buy. I'm still trying to have a good relationship with money coz sometimes I forget the priorities when I get carried away of the sale items in the store. I think most women can relate to that. :) If you're depending on your husband, chances are you'll be lame when he's gone. We women should know our financial status to avoid ending up in disaster. It's better to be prepared so if the unexpected happen, we know that we're safe and can move on easily. :)

First Stood Up

Claira stood up for the first time by herself last Saturday. I was amazed when I saw her standing up while I was watching TV. She was just playing with her toys and the next time I looked, she was standing up already. You can see the pictures below where she stood up again for the second time by herself. I think she's trying to get the black kitty plush that she dropped in the ottoman. I grab the camera and called hubby so he can see what Claira just did. :)

Pressure of Time

Before I got pregnant with Claira, I planned to visit Philippines (my homeland) last year but it was last year also that Claira was born so the plan was postponed. Then I was thinking that the best time to visit Philippines after having Claira will be when Claira is already 2 yrs old and after visiting Philippines I planned to have another baby so Claira won't be alone if time comes that hubby and I will be in heaven. That plan changed after I had my H1N1 and Flu shot where I wrote down my age on the form. I had my aha moment and realized that I'm not getting any younger. As I wrote down my age, I remember that the clock is ticking and won't stop ticking for me. And because of that, I changed my plan again. Baby first then visit Philippines once the kids are old enough to travel for a long flight. That is if we can have another baby. Hubby said that we cannot plan that far. If the baby comes then we'll be ready and if not then it's ok. I know there are many couples who wants to have babies but are not lucky to have one. So I guess the best plan for me now is baby first and if it won't happen then I'll visit Philippines next year (kung may budget). hehe

Waving bye and hi

Claira was waving bye and hi to me yesterday before I went out and when I came home. She's been practicing the waving for a couple of months already but she never applied it to her dad yet when he said bye to her before going to work or hi when he arrived home. I was glad to see her waved at me when I said "bye" to her and when I said "hi" last night. I think she now knows what it means. :)

First step to walking

That's what Claira does lately also aside from mastering the crawling thingy. I think straigtening her knees is the first step to walking. I sometimes help her stand up and help her to walk which she loves coz she gave me a big nice smile. :)

Exploring

I'm talking about Claira. She's crawling around the house lately, opening cabinets and grabbing the stuff inside. She's also pulling herself up to grab stuff that is out of her reach like the remote controls on the side table and her toys. It's nice to see her explore the world around her. I was reading the book about babies again regarding Claira's age for her milestones and what to expect. It says there that even though we the parents doesn't want the house to look messy, it's good for the baby to make a mess coz that's how she learn about the things around her. But of course when she's already in bed for the long night sleep, hubby or I will arrange her toys and put some to her toy boxes ready for her to play the next day. I noticed how happy she was when she saw her toys arranged and ready for her to play again. :)

Here she is going back to the family room from the kitchen.

She love to play the remote controls.

Messing around her zone.

Claira's First Snow

It's snowing today and I waited til the snow accumulate on the ground so I can make a little snowman. Claira enjoyed when the snow fell on her face. She didn't complain and was observing the surrounding. We didn't stay outside very long but we let Claira experience playing with the snow on the ground before we brought her back inside.

Runny nose

Not me but my little one Claira had that. Saturday night she was a little congested which woke her up crying coz maybe she can't fully breath. I'm glad that we have 3 suctions in the house, it really helped her to go back to sleep again. Every 1 hour to 3 hours she cried and her nose is wet again. She was fussy and always wanted to be carried with mom or dad which is normal for any sick baby for comfort and feel secure. She also had a slight fever last night. Hubby bought pain relievers and cough and cold medicine/spray just in case Claira's situation becomes worst. We use the nasal spray for her runny nose last night and tylenol for her fever. She felt better a few minutes she had the medicine and spray. And this morning when she woke up she was in good spirit, talking and ready to play. It's a good timing coz today also was her Doctor's appointment for her 9 month check up. We thought that she's still sick today eventhough she didn't have the runny nose anymore but the nurse at her Doctor's office said that Claira is just fine, no fever when they check her temperature. Thanks heaven! The nurse gave her a shot for the vaccine and prick on her little finger for some test (forgot what it was for). But anyways, Claira's been a good girl after all the drama (crying) at the Doctor's office. She did remember the place and she doesn't want to lie down on the patients bed. She was doing okay while we're talking to the Doctor about our concerns and questions and as soon as the Doctor mentioned that Claira can have the shot for her vaccine (coz she's not sick anymore), she cried again. I think she knows what the Doctor said. Poor baby but it's good for her health so we have to do it even if it hurts.