I'm still here..

Belated Happy Hearts day everyone! Well, it's been a while... I have been busy with school and other activities not to mention following the Bachelor, Survivor, Winter Olympics and catching up with American Idol.

This was a pretty tough week, I have midterm exams plus a terrible backache. This morning I had this conversation with my daughter:

Elyse: Mommy, please "arga"! (arga or karga from our bedroom going downstairs)

Me : Sorry, i can't. My back is still not ok.

Elyse: your back still ouch Mommy?

Me: Yeah...

Elyse: you should go to doctor Mom, the doctor will check you! ok, mom?

Me: you're right, i should go to the doctor.

Elyse: yes mom.. don't worry, your back will be fine.

She's really thoughtful. It melts my heart to hear those concerns from the smallest person in the house. :)

Have a good week everyone!

She's clever!

Her never ending please and unstoppable kiss will make her dad pause from whatever he is doing and listen to "any" of her wishes. Last night she did absolutely the same thing. We were at the family room watching tv when daddy was asked to get this pooh puzzle from her room. On the other hand, dad immediately went upstairs to get "her" stuffs. We caught ourselves laughing due to her cleverness! She really knows how to control her dad.

Daddy was laughing but at the same time felt weird because at 3 years old, Elyse can manipulate him according to her liking. She is smart but I’m anxious.

The Chipettes

I was wondering why she kept posing like this, and yesterday I realized that I should have asked her. Then she said, "Remember mommy, Brittany of the Chipettes? I like her! She also does that." And then she started dancing.. humming to "Single Ladies" of Beyonce. I just remembered that she is currently fond of watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks 2" movie.

So there, a major influence of Brittany to my daughter. By the way, here are the Chipettes! :)

Birthday dinner

We had a sumptuous dinner last night at Kabana resto bar just 10 minutes away from our home. We initially wanted to have dinner at Niji, a Japanese sushi bar but were drawn by the crowd at Kabana. It is a gorgeous place with "gorgeous" staffs! My husband was so pleased that we choose Kabana, and for sure he will keep coming back. :) Sadly, we we're not able to take pictures of the staffs. The resto bar has a warm trendy atmosphere and the food was great too!

Bored

Recently, I was stricken by massive amount of boredom. I used to be a SAHM, but now that I'm studying and busy with lots of stuffs. I can't imagine myself staying in the house 24/7! Its maybe because my daughter is independent now, unlike before that I should change her nappies every now and then, feed her, play with her. At 3 yrs old, she didn't have much wants, or should I say, she didn't want me to be around her all the time.

And now that I want to do some LO's, my laptop is with my husband on his business trip.. while I'm using his laptop minus the software I'm using for digiscrapping. I'm pretty bored! Hayyy!

I was talking with my Auntie Ninang over fb this morning, and I missed them back home. I hope we can sneak in some time this summer for a much awaited vacation in PI. Elyse was this small when we last visited PI. It was March 2008, for the 70th birthday of my mother. I want her to reunite with her cousins too.

And this was when we attended Ninang Cha's recital at UP Theater. Ninang Cha is now in Memphis for her Master's degree. How time flies..

Christmas is over..

After a few days of being in lazy mood, plans of keeping the Christmas decors is put on hold.. but today I finally did it! all by myself! As expected, my husband was again...surprised.. "how did you moved the Christmas tree to the basement? Isn't it heavy?" and so on.. When i came home that afternoon from the daycare with my daughter... she had the same sentiments.. she immediately noticed our fireplace without decor.. and she insisted to decorate the fireplace again. I just said that Christmas is over so we have to remove the decorations. She mumbled, "haaay.." with her face looking really sad. I just told her that next year we're going to decorate the house again for Christmas, and she began to smile again.

Christmas was really over.. no decorations.. no Christmas tree.. For me, our house looks spacious again, lots of empty spaces.. Anyway, it will only take a while before another Christmas. Hoping that the spirit of Christmas will always be in our hearts. Enjoy life!

Addition to his collection

after work

with his number 1 fan, he can't stop playing

this.. his new best friend..

it was my christmas gift to him.. i don't have a choice because this was the only thing i knew he wanted.

All the best for 2010!

Happy 2010 to all my blogger friends! I was not into blogging for a while since I'm busy studying, but i'm on vacation until January 20, so I have time to blog hop and post some updates. Let me start by posting some of our holiday pics. It was indeed a joyful Christmas and New year celebration for us. I'm wishing everyone a loving, peaceful and joyful 2010!

We celebrated Christmas with our friends and their families, while adults ended up playing taboo until 4:00 in the morning. We had fun games for kids as well as for adults courtesy of our friend Allan. The party was a blast! It was indeed a memorable one. Belated Happy Christmas to all.

House hunting

Belated happy hearts day everyone! For the past couple of months we've been busy looking around, finding for our possible new home. We didn't limited our search in Brossard but visited nearby area like La Prairie, St. Hubert, Greenfield Park and Longueuil. House hunting is fun yet stressful. We are not in a hurry but everything happened so fast. We've seen houses of different styles, bungalow, two storey, split level, semi-detached.. and after careful consideration of it's value including location, community and accessibility, we've finally decided to get the house at C section of Brossard, this is the golf course area in Brossard and is now under development.

We've seen a lot of houses in that area including condominiums. My husband once loved a house in La Prairie but the area is not like Brossard, the accessibility and location is not good. So since I'm still on the way of learning to drive and it would be a hassle to take public transpo, we've agreed to stay in Brossard. We are accustomed to this area and we feel that this is really our home. This area is good for children and young families like us. Compared to the other cities in Quebec or Montreal, Brossard is not crowded. Some said that they didn't like the South Shore area because of the Champlain bridge, but for me and those living in the South Shore, they never know how we feel since they are not living here. Each day I'm traveling , that bridge serves as my relaxation. Who wouldn't be amazed of the magnificent view of the St. Lawrence river and downtown Montreal as the backdrop? In the morning, the sun rays added reflection and change the color of the river and the buildings around the river becomes as precious as sparkling gold. At night, it is totally different. The lights of the buildings and darkness pleased the eyes of a passerby.

So, now we are in the process of documentation and we've agreed to move at the end of May. This will be our 1st year here in Canada. How time flies! Have a great week to all.

Allergy to peanuts

Babies have sensitive skin but for some reason my daughter has more sensitivity in her genes. The doctor said that I was the culprit behind this, it is because I had seborrheic dermatitis. The reason why my daughter had seborrheic dermatitis and now eczema. She have some allergies to nuts also. She never tasted nuts since she was born and yesterday she hold it and put it in her mouth, but according to her she didn't ate it. While I was having a chit-chat with friends she approached me and pointing to her mouth. Before that she was just like an ordinary girl at her age, running around with her playmate Karyl. I saw her fell down on the floor several times, the floor was carpeted and I didn't know where did she got her now swollen mouth. I just remembered that she hand me some peanuts! Until her both eyes becomes reddish, around her eyes were tiny rashes and she started to scratch her hands with rashes growing in her arms. So we called 811, to ask the nurse what we need to do. And the nurse advised us to call 911 or bring her to the emergency room of Childrens Hospital. So, we decided to bring her directly to the emergency room and then a nurse attended her, checked her BP, heartbeat, asked some questions et al. After a few seconds, the doctor arrived and checked her heartbeat, asked some questions.. that time there is no sign of rashes except for her swollen mouth.

According to the doctor, it was caused by peanuts. Now, she have to be checked by the Allergist to verify which level of allergy she had. She was prescribed to take Benadryl for the next 24 hours and some sort of injection if ever the same thing happen again and she have difficulty in breathing / the situation is worse.

All things happenned while we were having a despedida party to her playmate Karyl who will be transferring to B.C. this Thursday. I just remember that we didn't even took pictures, it maybe the last time for so many years that we will be together. We are planning to visit them on 2010 winter olympics, and they will be almost 5 by then.

There are cases that by touching or even just smelling the peanuts will be dangerous to the person allergy to it. And the doctor said that since we are not sure if she took it, we have to make sure how deep is her allergy. After an hour, we asked the doctor if we can go home and since there is no sign of difficulty / irritation, he allowed us to go home but monitor her condition and give her the medicine.

Maybe it's a premonition that before everything happened, while we we're looking at the gps for the nearest hospital in our place and she kept on saying "Mommy, let's go to the hospital." We were looking at the nearest hospital because the DQ (Dairy Queen) in our area is just located beside the hospital. We just want to get some ice cream cake for the party. So there, she had her first hospital visit!

Christmas the Filipino way

It was our second Christmas away from Philippines. It's been 4 years since we started working abroad but we are always making sure that we will celebrate Christmas with our families in Philippines. Although this year, we are far from our loved ones..... still, we spent Christmas in a traditional Filipino way. We want to pass this Filipino tradition to our daughter, like attending mass and remembering that it is HIS birthday, noche buena, gift giving, visiting friends and relatives and of course partying with fun games.

Here are some of our pictures during Christmas day.

Something "new" is coming!

Hello! How's everybody? As you all know, we had a busy weekend with our guests and just this morning they left to Mississauga. Last Saturday we we're not able to watch the fireworks display because of bad weather. It was raining since afternoon so, we decided to stay in the house. As a tradition here in Montreal, every summer they are hosting a fireworks competition and competitors will present their fireworks every Saturday at 10pm.

While yesterday, we tour around Montreal and visited the St. Joseph Oratory, Notre Dame Basilica, Eaton Center and the Old Port. Although with some rain showers, I'm glad we managed and took some nice shots. Of course we didn't forgot our favorite ice cream at the Old port. I guess I'm now having sore throat because of that. I'll post some of our pictures here later. For now, I'm excited to do something "new". I'm so happy and so glad.. but i will post more about the "new" thing in my life soon. See you around and Happy Monday to all!

I did this lay-out last week and thought of sharing it. ;)
credits:
kring paper, CRenee flowers, claudi flower swirl and leaves, BA zoo alpha and staple, KAagard border and sun, SP_HarvestSpice, journal strip

Healthy way to loose weight

It's been two years since I gave birth to Elyse and until now I have been struggling to loose weight. Being a full-time mother and wife, I don't have time to exercise and too lazy to watch my diet. Since then, I have good relationship with chocolates, ice cream and colas. I totally forgot the feeling of being light and healthy. For some instance my health and body is suffering from different kinds of abuse. Unable to watch my diet is a health and body abuse for me.

On the other hand, my husband never had a problem shedding his excess pounds. He is just impatient to go on a diet or to lift some weights but given the chance, he can do it in just a week. Having a good metabolism is really an advantage.

Being in this situation, I have been lurking around and searching the net for the safest and top diet pills that will suit my needs. Learning about the top diet pills in the market today, I'm planning to try the best but still having second thoughts. I'm afraid of the possible side effects and always want to try the safest way to get my desired weight. What do you think?

Let's visit UK!

I got a surprise call from my friend living in UK inviting us to attend her wedding on September. She is one of my closest friend since high school and one of my brides maid during my wedding. I'm still overwhelmed right now, I'm just so happy for her. Of course we will attend her wedding, at the same time we can tour around UK.

She told me that we should be in UK before September 8. Since then, I started browsing the net and found the Cheap Hotels in UK. They have the best rate and package, they also offer free use of hotel facilities like gym, swimming pool and internet. We will surely enjoy our stay there with free internet and breakfast. I can still update my blog, my husband can check his emails while in the hotel and Elyse can enjoy swimming on our spare time.

Another friend of mine is in London and we're planning to visit her too. We booked this hotel in London which offers affordable rates and good packages too. As we are fixing our itineraries, I can't wait to see London. I will make sure that we will not miss the London eye, Big Ben, London Bridge and the Buckingham palace which will be open for public on September!

My cousin who is in Edinburg will be happy to see us too. So, we decided to stay there for another 2 days. I got a wide selection of hotels in Edinburg from the net and we're looking forward to visit the tourist attractions there like the famous Edinburg castle.

My husband and I both admires old structures and nice architectures, so we are eager to see the Cathedral in Manchester and would like to spend another day there for a city tour. We immediately booked our Manchester hotel and now, we are just excited to pack our bags and finally enjoy our stay in UK. See you there!

Daycare hunting is still on!

As mentioned in my previous blog post, we've visited the daycare center in Boulevard Grand Allee yesterday. I wasn't expecting that it was a home daycare since it was affiliated to Au pied de lechelle. Anyway, the owner is nice but I don't really want to enroll my daughter in a home daycare. If that's the case, then, it's better for her to stay in the house with me. And while waiting for a slot in the CPE, I've done this weekly plan for my little girl. I want her to be occupied and learn to socialize with other kids. Although, I'm not seeing any problem with her behavior when playing with other kids, but I just think that it will be better for her. Actually, she's really a nice playmate and "easy" toddler, as long as I'm around her. Yes, she's so attached to me, the major reason why I wanted to put her in the daycare. By the way, here are some of her latest pictures while playing with Ate Misha. I thought my daycare hunting is finally over! Well, I guess it just started. Anyway we're not in a hurry, I'm just hoping to get the best for Elyse.

credits: corinanielsen paper and elements, monika69 alpha, chant boxed word

Elyse and Quebec city on Father's day!

I have been scouting for daycares around the area and so far i like the Les Canaries and Au Pied de lechelle in Boulevard Rome. Both are subsidized by the government and has a long wait list. It pissed me off that most daycare centers here will let you know that it usually take a year or two before getting a place or will ask you to leave your name and phone number so they can call you once there's a slot available. I was in total panic knowing the situation and I guess I'm still lucky when Au Pied de lechelle in Boulevard Grand Allee finally informed me that they have place for Elyse in the afternoon! I think the time and schedule is best for my little girl since it's her first time to stay in the daycare center. So, this afternoon at 4pm we will visit the place and I hope the place is good for Elyse.

We also enrolled Elyse at Le Petit Gym where she will start her first class this Saturday. I'm sure she will not let the day pass without visiting Funtopia which is just beside the Le Petit Gym. We visited Funtopia last week and she had fun playing with other kids, but most of all her favorite slide is there. Now, she always want to be out in the sun, running around the park, enjoy the water in the pool and swinging all day long!By the way, last father's day we visited Quebec city with some friends here. It was a charming city! We've been to Sainte Anne de Beaupre, Chateau Frontenac, we even rode a cable car going to Mont Morency and watched the cycling competition in the city.

credis: aamorin paper, kskd tape, gunhild storeide frame, chere-kaye wordart.

Pool party on Daddy's Birthday

I'm sorry guys for not being around for quite sometime, I'm so busy with lots of things. I missed blogging! Anyway, for my regular visitors thanks again. To all fathers out there, belated happy fathers day. Thanks for the tags and I will try to do it soon.

We had a pool party last Saturday and it was fun! Elyse enjoyed playing in water using her balls and toys while the birthday celebrant enjoyed the food and swimming even the water is a bit cold at 25 degrees. Uncle Edwin, Auntie Vivian, Ate Mariz and Suzette prepared "sinigang na hipon", chicken barbeque, ginataang halo-halo, fruit salad and even bought donuts and cake. On the other hand I prepared their favorite "caldereta" and brought ice cream for dessert. It was another "full" day! :) Happy birthday again honey! Good health and more birthdays to come. Cheers!

LP # 10 Pag-iisang Dibdib

This is my wedding at San Agustin Church last December 18, 2004. Fol Rana is our photographer. I did the lay-out of the pictures when i just started using photoshop.

Ito ang kasal ko nung December 18, 2004 sa San Agustin Church. Si Fol Rana ang aming photographer at ako ang nag lay-out ng mga pictures nung ako ay nagsisimula pa lang gumamit ng photoshop.

What i love most about being a mom?

I treasure everything I have in life most especially my daughter. This space couldn't be enough putting all in details but with this tag i need to mention some things i love most about being a mom:

My day starts with her smile. Greeting me "good morning mommy.." will make me smile some more.

Watching her grow makes me feel older but happier especially if she's learning to discover things by herself.

Her praying habit makes me feel more proud. Hoping that she'll grow up with fear and faith in Him.

My day is not complete without her giggles and laughter. She makes me laugh when she's dancing or singing along with her daddy.

Her thoughtfulness and sweetness makes me feel so blessed.

Thank you fellow mommies, Abie, MommyAllehs and Eds for this tag. :)

It's her again..

Elyse's 2nd birthday celebration is incomparable to her 1st. For so many reasons, we didn't really plan for a big celebration. We just had dinner at Buffet and Bar Newport here in Brossard, gave her a cake and ice cream that she truly enjoyed. She knew it was her birthday but was in awe when her daddy came in with a cake, singing the birthday song. Soon she realized that it is really her birthday! After that, she was singing the same song for herself until we got home. :)

Before coming here, we didn't have any idea how we're going to celebrate her birthday especially being away from close friends and relatives. Thank God for meeting nice and wonderful people here who treated us like their immediate family. Settling down has been easier with their help and advices. Thank you so much!!!

To my dearest Elyse, Happy birthday! I love you and God bless you! Mwah! :)