Forgive my lack of posts. Our family has been busy with the little guy’s graduation from ABC’s with Ace and Christi. We have been rehearsing since last week and the week before that was his Karate promotion for Yellow Belt. Whoever said that a homeschooler’s life can be boring couldn’t be more wrong.

Thank God for my reliable VA a.k.a. remote secretary, who is able to deliver jobs that I otherwise had to bury my head in. The below video is my son with fellow karate students during his Shotokan Karate promotion to yellow belt. Forgive the amateurish video. I had to squeeze myself in the crowd. Then I had to pass the camera to the hubby just so I can take photos via the dslr. Yes, I know, it’s one of our many stage parents moments.

We’re thrilled to be enjoying these milestones as our son levels up in both academic and his non-curricular lessons.  Now that we’re back to regular programming, we no longer have to travel several miles for graduation rehearsals, we’ve done a few celebrations – feasted, watched Jed’s favorite “Sound of Music” complete with our makeshift-can-do-for now home theater speakers, sang along and just spent time with each other. We’ll be off to visit Jed’s grandfather in Davao with my husband’s relatives next month, so that’s yet another celebration.

With over a hundred applications installed on my iPhone and the hubby’s iPad, one of the more interesting ones that I have recently discovered is the KinKast iPhone Video Sharing Application. For one, I have never found any other video application that processes just as fast. Second and more importantly is the option of privately sharing the videos.

There are YouTube and Facebook video sharing options all right. But all of them are all out in the open, unlike KinKast. Parents like us take videos of our child every so often. Those who have been regular followers of my blogs, inluding ChristianHomeschooler.info know that for a fact. We can’t miss out on all those milestones, right?

Here are some of the details about KinKast:
• Record and forget (your videos upload automatically in the background)
• Easily share with friends (they receive a private viewing link with no login required)
• No size or length limits (even on free accounts)
• You can upload videos from other cameras to KinKast.com
• All of your videos are safely backed-up on KinKast servers
• Works on iPhone 3GS and 4G and iPod Touch 4G

KinKast App is by far the easiest way to privately share video clips. Record a moment and share it in two taps! Yes, it’s that fast.

· No waiting (video uploads in the background)
· Privately share with friends (they receive a link with no login required)
· Safely back-up your memories on KinKast servers
· Can also post to Facebook

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

I. Opening Activities (8:00 – 8:25)

II. Review of Previously Learned Letters ( 8:25 – 8:40)

III.  Animal Story/Review (8:40 – 9:00)

IV. Physical Development (9:00 – 9:15)

V. English/ Review/Master the Letter/ Word Building Review (9:15 – 9:35)

VI. Math  (9:35 – 9:45)

VII. Fruit Break (9:45 -10:00)

VIII. Character Building / Bible Story and Song (10:00 – 10:20)

IX. Scripture Memory (10:20 – 10:30)

X. Break (10:30 – 11:00)

XI. Science (11:00 – 11:15)

XII. Social Studies (11:15 – 11:30)

XIII. Quiet Time (11:30 – 11:45)

XIV. Final Activities (11:45 – 12:00)

 Jed at 1

Jed at 2

Jed at 3

 

Happy 4th birthday, Jed! 

Today is our son’s first time to attend Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS).  The hubby and I thought, he was ready for it and we had him attend the first day.  He was thrilled at first but later on got overwhelmed by the loud screaming the other kids were doing during the large group assembly.  It was another first for him.  

This week’s Mommy Moments is particularly hard for me. You see I take around 500 shots a month since the little guy is born, so choosing from amongst the thousands can be pretty challenging for anyone. 

Any wife and mother will always find joy when she sees her beloved partner in life sinking beautifully into fatherhood with so much grace like my dear husband does.  For someone who has an absentee father for more than half of his life, he is thoroughly excelling in this area.  Proof that it is ultimately a man’s choice what he decides to be and not be dictated by his past circumstance.  For this matter, whatever kind of family of origin he came from.  I love Jeff more each day for being the kind of man he is and the father that he is to our child.

From the thousands of photo files I have in my external hard drive, I chose less than thirty. I opted to make a collage instead to get them all to fit in one post.

PARENT TALK 101 with Rev. Clem Guillermo as speaker, will be on June 6, Saturday, 2-5pm. It will be held at the NIA auditorium, National Printing Office Road corner EDSA, Quezon City (across GMA7). P150 per person (this includes the hand-outs for the seminar)

Jed was two months old when this photo was taken.  I used to give him a bath in his trusty blue green baby bath tub until he was almost a year old – atop the kitchen counter, beside the sink. 

This one was taken just before I was to give him a bath when he was three months old. This time, from my folks place.  That is my father’s hand supporting my cutie pie and that is my folk’s kitchen sink on the background.

Play and bath time in a real tub since he turned two

With the heat of summer pressing on, it really looks like we are going to have to soak in the tub more frequently now. I hope summer won’t be as bad as last year’s.  It is good that I got back to using my seaweed slimming VCO, which keeps my skin cool for longer periods after bath.  It is actually hitting two birds with one stone.  My quick fix.  If I don’t get back to working out, I would seriously need to look for some weight loss pills that work.  Meanwhile, as I checked the ingredients, they are all natural, maybe I could have my son use it sparingly so he will be fresh for longer periods after baths too.

Having said all that, I am looking forward to giving my son a bath, thrice a day and getting his huge inflatable pool set up in the garage very soon.   Why not enjoy summer, while we are at it, right?

This is my second mommy moments post. It surely made me go back memory lane and felt thankful that I was able to capture all those moments. These photos were taken either from the traditional film camera or my then Sony Ericsson S700i.

This shot was taken the day after I gave birth to our son via lamaze/bradley method, almost four years ago.  The labor lasted for almost two days and gave birth with almost zero anaesthesia.  I had to be drugged a little during the closing up of the episiotomy.

The hubby and our son.  This was taken in Pancake House at the Fort after one Sunday morning service.  The hubby happily attends to our son as it was my turn to eat my lunch without having to mind the little guy.  The baby came after three years of being married.  Adjustments were sweet instinct.  The inconveniences almost became immaterial.  This little guy slept through the night from the second month.  Thanks to Babywise.  

His first semi-solid was Cerelac.  I did not know better then.  After a couple of months, I bought a grinder and started cooking organic brown rice alongside mashed fleshy veggies and fruits.  He still eats brown rice to this day.  The first attempts to semi-solids were funny.  His instict was to suck the little teaspoon and kept making a mess all over his mouth.  He soon got the hang of it.  

This entry is almost a week late, but given that this is my first post for Mommy Moments, I hope I get away with it.  Feb 6 Mommy Moments is all about the first smile of your kid/s.  I still have a day before the next to its sequel. 

This was taken on July 6, 2005.  My son’s first conscious smile. We all know that babies smile for a handful of different reasons.  All those baby books explain that it is but natural for babies to smile in their sleep, even hours after the baby’s birth and so on and so forth. Possibly one of the most precious milestones of a baby’s growth is when s/he begins to respond to you through smiling and even cooing.

The national average that a baby reaches this milestone is 2 months.  My son was around 1.5 months old when he first smiled back at us and then another milestone came after another. Life just gets sweeter everyday.

“Mama, ‘Ano’ is What!” This is what he proudly announced after having spoken the phrase “ano is what” to himself a couple of times. He was so thrilled to have realized that translation. When he was sure about it, he caught my attention, as if I was not listening all along. Sometimes I try to help it because he gets conscious and stops talking in Filipino/Tagalog altogether. The very few times he does, people around him can’t help but chuckle with his slang Tagalog. This is a puzzle to us, because we definitely speak straight Tagalog to each other around the house, how could it be that our little boy speaks slang Tagalog? Our theory is that the dynamics of how the tongue moves around the mouth to pronounce words is so different when one speaks in English compared to when one speaks in Tagalog.

Our son’s primary language is English. But even if this was so, he was never a snob. He almost always initiates, without thought on the language barrier with kids who only speak Tagalog. No parent would probably label him as a snob.

These past few weeks the hubby and I are teaching him how to talk in Tagalog and construct sentences. He understands Tagalog all right, but it has always been a struggle for him to speak it. You can talk to him in Tagalog and he can carry a conversation, but he is going to answer in English. At least he will not give you anymore, “what are you talking about?” questions, like he used to.

It is fun to see the kids from the church be amused over how Jed tries to talk with them in the vernacular, despite the struggle. Kids sometimes would ask him to talk in Tagalog instead, because this little guy talks a whole lot and they just cannot keep up. There was this one time in McDonald’s play area, when Jed was trying to make friends with a couple of kids and one of the kids said, “Di ka maiintindihan niyan, Hapon yan eh!” (He won’t understand you, he’s Japanese!) I could not help but chuckle in my seat as I write with one of the stores promotional pens while I watch them play.

This is yet again another milestone for our son. This little chatterbox is already bilingual at three years old. It thrills him to hear himself speak in Tagalog/Filipino and that he is able to communicate in our native tongue. It amuses both me and his father that he is learning all these things.

I hope to again journal my son’s jumping on the “big boy” status. A couple of nights back, in the wee hours of the morning, I heard tiny, big steps (I swear his footsteps are not light! But I know they come from tiny feet ) coming towards our bed. It was our son with his “blue pillow” (that’s how he calls it). I thought then he was ready to jump to our bed as he would sometimes do at around seven in the morning. I told him to come up the bed but he left and headed back to his room. I allowed a couple of minutes and peeked on his room. He was sleeping soundly on his own cozy mattress.

Sigh! It is pretty obvious that our boy, who has not even turned three yet, is embracing his big boy status. It is bitter sweet really. I still sometimes hope he would regress and would want to sleep with us again. Time flies real fast. He is not even three but he loves acting like a grown up. I can truly go on and on about my son and his milestones. He’s pretty much breezing through every adjustment expected of his age. I am thrilled to homeschool him next year. That would be another adventure for us as a family.

Since two weeks ago when dear son shifted from our family bed to his very own single bed inside his very own single room, he has managed to stay there for most of the nights. Yesterday he was announcing to his father and me that he is no longer baby Jed, but his name now is big boy Jed. This surprised us. It’s another bittersweet progress of our son. He sure is growing up and he is ready step out of the baby stage.

 

 

I know I will hold him as my baby in my heart, forever. It is one of the songs we sing every night. The “I love you, forever song.” He requests this from me and sings it with me. He would also love to give his papa his play guitar and hand me his harmonica while he plays the drums and the used piano alternately. He has really grown to love playing different instruments. In fact, after every worship service at church every Sunday, he would run straight to the keyboards and play. He could just stay there forever fiddling with the different keys and I tell you he does play music already. We’re already considering acquiring a piano in the future for him to be able to hone his talent even in his young age. It might just be a little too early now and we do not have yet anyone in mind yet who will effectively teach a toddler piano lessons. My husband and I really see that this is one of the things that he truly enjoys.

 

 

My musical baby will just sing for hours on end every single song he has got memorized. From the “I love you Lord hymnal song”, the full soundtrack of Barney Songs to the more popular children’s song in our vernacular “Tong, Pakitong-kitong.” He is practically a live baby juke box.

Last night was our son’s first night to sleep on his big boy bed, in his very own room. It took him quite a while before he dozed off to sleep. He made just one trip to the potty but went right back to his bed. Around midnight when both me and dear husband were off to retiring, we heard our son call his papa and when he carried him and was ready to put him down on our family bed. He then appealed and told us that he wants to sleep on his new bed. So there we were, the three of us on a single bed. Can you imagine! We were nice and warm all right, but we sure could use some space, if you’d ask me. Here’s a funny conversation my son had with his father in the morning:

Papa: “Son, give papa some space.” (our son scooted over just a bit, as if there was any more room!)

Son: “Give baby Jed some space?” (interrogative manner)

We were one crowded bunch, I tell you. I don’t know how it’s going to be tonight. Our son has never given us a hard time at all with just about every single milestone growing up. It’s a real blessing that he’s such an easy child. We haven’t even experienced those common potty training problems. One thing for sure, we’re not strict with the non-essentials. That would have been the trick. Regression possibly comes with rigidity. We are keen though in raising him up to be a disciplined human being. We want him to grow up to be a blessing to others around him.

We have been co-sleeping since he was born. He is now two years and eight months old. There’s not much of rush, I’d repeatedly tell myself. It’s just that his papa’s bed when he was still single just came in and got transferred from lola’s place, then might as well utilize it.

Hubby cleverly maneuvered everything. From having our son get the feel of his bed like sleeping with him in the afternoon, very much like having our son feel how it is to “own” the bed. I didn’t care to get in the way, because I was okay with whatever. I mean if he’s ready to sleep by himself, I’m good with it. If not, I would love to still cuddle with my cutie pie every single night. Of course minus the flying arms and legs in the middle of the night. Hubby got him to sleep alone this evening. He still had his attempts of going back to the family bed and we will just watch what he would do. I don’t want to pressure our son. He will get to it when he’s ready. But he went right back on his bed. He just got up for his mid night pee and went right back to his bed.

I was trying to hold off this milestone and was telling hubby to wait till we get him his wall fan. (I was sure the exhaust fan that connects between our rooms won’t do.) The installation of that exhaust fan is solely for the purpose of sharing the breeze from the air conditioner when it’s turned on. But it proved to be enough in our current weather. His room was cozy and well ventilated. I have no excuse. I have got to give it to hubby for doing a good job. I don’t know if our son will hold off until the morning light breaks but I’m okay with anything really. He’s still my baby. In fact, I might as well stop myself when I get the urge to carry him back to our family bed. He’s growing and I can’t help it. He’s been breezing through every single milestone. I am here thinking maybe in a day or two he might regress, but then again, maybe not. I am not sure of anything yet. It’s too soon to say. Maybe tomorrow he’d realize he still wants to sleep with us. I am just too drawn in this thought. One thing for sure that’s inevitable, my baby is now a boy sleeping on his own big boy bed.

Read: Five Basic Needs of Men

The first basic need of women is Affection. This involves a variety of factors that changes over time. It changes through the seasons of a woman’s life. Security, comfort and approval. The second is Conversation. God surely has given us the ability to communicate a tad more than He has given men. Although, we have been given this, there are also measures that we should take note of. Women, in general, have a much greater need for communication than men do. Studies show that women loved to talk about the same things a minimum of three times. They talk at a different level than men do. There are five levels of communication, these are: Cliche, Reporting Facts, Ideas and Opinions, Feelings and Emotions and Complete Trust and Truth. An average man would only go as far as Reporting Facts and that’s about it. Giving their ideas and opinion will be the first level they would take and they do it feeling it is a risk. As for women, to go as far as the fifth level is but very ordinary. The husband should take note that it is his responsibility to create the proper environment for conversation.

Women’s third basic need is Honesty and Openness. It is interesting to note that most wives perceive their husbands as not telling the whole truth. The Bible emphasizes to always speak the truth. Ephesians 4:25 says to put away lying. It is habit forming to lie. It eventually destroys trust and we can track back to the cycle from the times couples are still dating. The fourth is Financial Support. For obvious reasons, families grow and needs arise. Women’s fifth basic need is Family Commitment. A lot of women are often frustrated with the lack of commitment their husbands seem to have for the family. The problem with the silence of men began with Adam. Read Genesis 3:16

The conclusion to the study of the difference of men and women’s basic needs are:

1. A basic problem is that husbands and wives attempt to meet their spouses need by meeting one of their needs.

2. By learning to understand your spouse as a totally different person than you, you can become an expert at meeting all your spouse’s needs, that is, if you want to.

3. You must be prepared to meet needs you may not have or understand.

It has been a habit of my son to sing to his heart’s delight when he feels like it. I see it more as his way of passing time when he’s got nothing else to do, when he’s bored or just when he feels like singing the songs he has heard and learned to imitate. In this particular video, Jed was about to sleep. He has been singing the song from Barney and my wife got the chance to take his video. He’s so cute especially when he kisses his mom after singing the part “with a kiss from me to you.”

Jennie and I met when we were Sunday School attenders at our church. I was in the 6th grade then and she was in the 5th. There were only a few of us in our Sunday School class so we really remembered each other. Up until my early high school years I still had communication with her.

We were just friends back then (but she had a crush on me, as she revealed to me when she became my girlfriend). I didn’t have a thing for her back then but I did notice then that a big sister friend of mine usually teased me. My friend would tell me almost every Sunday that “someone” wanted to say “hi!” to me.

But Jennie and I parted ways when she was in third year high school. Their family transferred to Sampaloc, Manila and they stopped attending in our church (I supposed they attended a church near their place). And during that time, I never really forgot about her because I had contact with her cousins, who were still attending our church and they were part of our church’s youth group. I did have other crushes in high school and she had her own share of boys in her life, too.

Then came the time when they came back to Antipolo City and we saw each other again. At that time, though she had a boyfriend. But I started noticing her in a different way. I seldom saw her but we still remembered each other and didn’t forget saying hi to each other. I remember the time when their family regularly attended our church again. I started to show my attraction; unintentionally or not, I asked common friends her pager number, approached her when common friends were around, appearing to be generally friendly but discreetly talked to her when she was all alone.

It was the Christmas holidays of 1996 when I started pursuing her. I started calling her, and began inviting her out. The courtship started. It was at 10:00PM in February 10, 1997 when we officially became together. It was at ULTRA, Pasig City, four days before (Valentine’s Day) while watching a concert of Ron Kenoly that we told our friends about our new relationship.

Since that day, we never looked back. We entered the relationship that we had with the intention of marrying each other. And on the 8th of December 2001, we got married.

What we have is not a “happily ever” kind of relationship. Just like any other relationship, we’re not perfect individuals and we’re not in a perfect marriage. But we’ve committed to stand by each other no matter what and declared this commitment in front of friends, family and God. And with God’s grace and guidance, we are now on our way to our 7th year of marriage. Jennie, here’s to our marriage and beyond…

Thanks for the tag Marikenya! This meme made me look back to the year that was and made me realize that it was one of the best years in my life! It is just fitting to post this on the first day of the year twenty o’ eight, with thanksgiving and heart of expectation for an even better year.

I’m tagging friends and doing my share to get this train rolling. |Darlene|Delish|Karmi|Manilenya|Zang|Norms|Scotty’s Princess|Jencc|Ella|Itot|

• My 2007 Blues:

1. Having had an unnecessary misunderstanding with longtime good friends that were won by this gossiping character who has never ceased to blow her poison to people around her. Gossip is a parasite and when one is enslaved by it, the person becomes one herself. It is wise to talk to people upfront than to go around spreading poison that would eventually backfire. In time they will come to the realization of things and while no damage control can reverse what was done, sooner or later, people will know the truth.

Numbers 32:23 … and be sure your sin will find you out.

• My 2007 Bliss:

1. Having been able to have our very own house constructed in April. It was surreal at that time. I never expected this. It’s a tangible proof that God answers prayers!

2. If having our own house was not enough, it also came with the bath tub of my dreams! I have always dreamt of having one since childhood.

3. Having finished my Continuing Professional Education course, in one semester at that! All 18 units! (I am now off to taking the board soon-*jitters!*)

4. Finally getting our very own Megabook towards the end of the year! (We badly needed to have our Pentium3 desktop replaced) I have dreamt of getting a Macbook all right, but this Megabook sure is the next best thing, hands down. We call him “Lightning” (go figure!)

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Here’s how it works:

1. Copy some of the description of this tagging meme and modify it with your own.
2. Provide your Blues and Bliss answers.
3. Post the name and the link of all those who joined this meme and the one who tagged you! If you get a ping back, include also that person in the link list.
4. Let’s all have a wonderful 2008! Cheers!
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Six years ago today at this exact hour, I was up with Mama and Rose inside one of Great Eastern Hotel’s large junior suites, having our breakfast. Having just called one of our friends who will come to walk in place of Jeff’s former high school classmate who texted in late that he won’t make it that day to walk with the entourage. Doing most of the wedding coordination myself, I was taxed, tensed and lacked sleep. Tossing and turning throughout the night until I slept at around 3 in the morning made it all worse. I was convinced I looked horrible! I felt I was the bride looking my worse on my big day. Harassed by the calls of my make up artist from Jun Encarnacion, who was a couple of hours late from schedule, that they were caught in traffic in Barangka which supposedly celebrates fiesta on the same day. Another irking moment. I just can’t figure out how he wasn’t able to adjust his time, just as the unbelief I had with one of Jeff’s groom’s men not giving us even a day’s notice, at it’s best, that he won’t make it. Why oh why, just a few hours before? How thoughtless can people be sometimes.

A long day sure was ahead for all of us. Jeff at this hour was himself busy getting stuff from the church, speakers, sound systems, the kneeler, microphones, the white carpet where the entourage would later walk on and everything else. Wedding coordinators in 2001 wasn’t yet a hit. We got a team in the both of us alone, plus family and friends who readily made themselves available to do the ushering and what-have-you’s. From six months before that day we resolved to do everything ourselves to fill in every nick of detail concerning our upcoming wedding.

As harassed as the whole day sounds, not to mention my having to take in half of the pill papa took to ease his tension, it sure turned to be a total celebration. I remember Atty. and Mrs. R complimented our wedding with such zest, as the event came to a close, as the most beautiful wedding ceremony they have ever witnessed. And how was that as an affirmation after all the things we had to go through! That was so appreciated, as we saw for ourselves all our effort paying off. The event turned out to be some kind of a musical event (as planned). Even as we have assigned friends and relatives to render their respective numbers in particular parts of both the ceremony and the reception program. Their numbers were hits in themselves and I believe have overshadowed the imperfections that were: two hours delayed and the power outage just when the entourage was about to march on. (which was resolved in a few minutes by no less than Kuya Al!) Everyone did their share and we cannot credit its success to just ourselves. It was indeed the biggest affair of our lives with all these people who loved us rendering their undying support amongst the sea of witnesses of around two hundred guests. (at least that’s number of guests that we have paid for, we didn’t get to count exactly how many made it though.)

It was a day of celebration of love and life, a reflection of God’s love and plan for us, which was but only a springboard to a life not perfect, but a journey of the union of two redeemed lives who are both constant works-in-progress.

Everyday, through joy and sorrow, in sickness and in health, through the good times and the bad, as we depend on Him who we profess to be Lord of our lives, we live one day at a time, knowing in our hearts that we will hold true to our vows — For without Him, we can do nothing. (John 15:5)

If there’s anything I can say true of the both of us now, I definitely like the persons that we have become better than when we first married. And I believe that’s the whole idea of marriage. To be that better person for your spouse, for if not, what is there to being married at all?

I still look forward to having yet the best years of our lives, Jeff. Thank you for who you are and how you allowed the Lord to mold you in the person that you have become.

1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love never fails.”

(the inscription on our souvenir give aways)

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