photohunt :: high

this week's theme is high. so here's my entry: coffee!
it has become a necessity for me, my daily dose of caffeine. it gives me my much needed and forever lacking energy throught out the day. it gives me my "high".

bottom's up!

photohunt: metal

here are some of my metal pics. i went around our house looking for some metal finds with my trusted digicam.

looking at pretty flowers from our garden through metal grids of our garden set...


our metal wind chimes that lay quiet on a lazy afternoon:




metal lock and chain that has been left unused for years.

holy week

holy week is here... starting with palm sunday

manila ocean park

our own ocean park, finally! being a group of islands, the philippines is found at the center of vast oceans. we boast of highly diversified marine life, and yet we had no marine park to boast of like those in hongkong and singapore. not anymore. we now have the manila ocean park, which opened this month.

manila ocean park is a state of the art oceanarium, with other facilities like open water habitat, boutiques and restaurants for the weary and tired ocean lover. the prices are set at P400 for adults and P350 for kids. Operation hours is from 10am - 9pm daily (contact no. 567-7777 )

hmm. i really wish the whole family can visit this marine theme park soon. i think the little one will enjoy it very much. plus it would be a chance to take wonderful photos! =)

potty trained!

While in the bookstore, I was able see a number of books about potty training. I thought to myself, it is so hard to potty train that you have to have several books published about the topic? I mean, a lot of people must really be having potty training problems.

Last week, my little one got sick and the findings led UTI or urinary tract infection. This is pretty common among little girls still wearing their diapers round the clock. So my pediatrician told us it was time to take the little one’s diaper off, at least during the day. Potty training time!

Before actually taking the diaper off, we talked to the little one and gave her the necessary instructions. “tell mommy or the nanny if you feel like you’re going to wee-wee or poo-poo” and that was that. On the first day she initially refused to sit on her trainer seat. When she did get the hang of it, she wanted to sit on it even if she didn’t need to. Hehehe… that day, she only had one “accident”, we were surprised that for the rest of the day, she did tell her nanny that she needed to wee-wee. The only problem was that she gives us only a few seconds lead time, so when she says “wee-wee” , her nanny would literally rush her to her trainer seat.

On the second day, she learned to say poo-poo too.

She was potty trained in just one day, at two years old. Is that some sort of record or something? =)

thank God for my laptop!

i've always thought that having a laptop was just a luxury. why go for the pricey laptop when you can just buy a pc with better specs for a lower price. when we moved back in at my parents' house, although we brought our pc with us, we couldn't bring it inside our room. it was too cramped already as it is, with bea's stuff and all. i was so sad not to be able to use a computer. i had to go to internet shops just to check my mail or update my friendster. then, my sis and i got to talking about getting a broadband connection and splitting the fees, it was then that i decided to get a laptop of my own (a low end one!)

it was a good thing too, now i surf anytime and anywhere in the house! it wasn't a luxury after all, in my case it was a necessity! =)

thank God for laptops!

photo hunt:: i spy

for my father's birthday we had lunch at restaurant by the seaside. specializing in seafoods, the restaurant even had a small aquarium embedded in the floor, to add to the ambiance. i didn't notice it when i stepped in the resto, i thought it was just a floor design. =)

can you see the little fishes by the little one's foot? =)

still sick

the little one is still a bit sick. thankfully the fever has gone down. but she now has rashes on her tummy. little red dots here and there. hmm. should i be worried? probably a reaction to her meds? hmmm...

aloha friday

this is my first time to join aloha friday, and this is my first question: when did you start blogging and what made you start a blog?

i started blogging last year. when we got our broadband connection up and running, i was really excited. at long last i had internet access 24/7. no need for slow internet connections, no more going to the internet shop just to check out my emails and friendster account =)

and since i loved to write (and read), setting up a blog was the next step. blogging became a venue for me to write about my thoughts about my work, family, especially about my little one. and i made some great friends along the way!

the little one is sick

today has been a hectic day for me. early today, at 1:00 am, i woke up upon hearing or feeling (i can't remember which) the little one's retching. yep, she vomited in her sleep. i panicked because i feared that she might "drown", some vomit might go to her lungs (i don't even know if that's possible) i noticed then that she felt really hot.

backtrack. the night before, hubby and i got home late as usual and little one is already sleeping. when i kissed her forehead, i thought she felt warm, but not so hot that i'd be alarmed about it. fast forward to 1am, the thermometer read 38.7. i gave her some paracetamol and as expected, her fever went down, and she got all sweaty.

in the morning i gave our nanny instruction to give her meds at the scheduled time. i also asked her to give bea plenty of liquids.

during the day, i called home twice. i was told bea was ok, still with fever but she's her usual kulit self. but only after a few minutes, my sis was already calling and texting me, asking me to call home. when i did, my father was already semi-panicking. bea's temp was past 40! and she vomitted again! uh oh! i asked my father to bring her to the hospital. i feared that her body might convulse from too much heat... (thank God that didn't happen!)

i hurriedly packed my stuff, and left the office, scribbling a note addressed to my boss. hehehe...
and to top it all off, today there was a transport strike. i couldn't get a cab from makati, because everyone is trying to get one also. they're all full!

so i rode the mrt, then the lrt, then took a cab to the hospital. when i got there, hubby was already there! he borrowed his officemate's car (thanks benedict!) and drove to the hospital.

they already did a cbc and they were waiting for bea's urine for urinalysis. this has always been a diffuculty for us, getting urine specimen. while waiting, bea threw up 4x. wawa!

fever was still high. the doc figured uti, (even w/o the urinalysis, saying the bacteria in her blood was high) and prescribed anti-biotics. i wasn't comfortable with her decision so i called our pedia from st. luke's anyway. i read to her the cbc result and she said that the wbc was not that high for a conclusion that it was a bacterial infection. she stopped me from giving the little one the prescribed meds. she just told me to give bea, dolan, regularly for 24 hours. this should bring down her fever... then bring her to st. luke's tomorrow for a consult.

ok, how will i do that? when i am on a no-absence/tardiness agreement with my superiors at the office?!? waaah! bahala na!

farewell dear friend

last sunday, we bid farewell to our faithful friend, hapi, our happy yellow van. we will surely cherish the memories we shared during the years that we spent with each other. too bad your maintenance cost is getting too high...

it's not that hubby doesn't care for you anymore, he just doesn't have much choice. he barely has any free time anymore. whatever time he has, spends it catching some sleep or bonding with the family.

so farewell dear friend. we hope you're happy with your new family...

we'll miss you.

p.s. whenever bea sees a yellow van/car she still yells "Daddy!" hehehe...

photo hunt :: different

can you see what is different in this picture? hehehe =)

i was thinking hard about my "different" entry when i suddenly came up with this. good thing my boss didn't see me while i was doing it. *wink*

Feast #182

Appetizer
If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be?

hmmm. i'd want to be Oprah Winfrey for one whole week id' love to know how it feels to have that much power and influence to so many people around the globe! it's as if the people are hanging on to every word she says. it must be wonderful, and it must be such a big responsibility too.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?

5. back when i was in college, i looooved yaaking on the phone. even though i spent most of the day with my friends, i'd talk to them still the moment i got home! plus i'd get excited when hubby-then-boyfriend would call. now, every one is just a sms away. less time consuming. that's pretty much how i communicate with almost everybody =)

Salad
Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).

world vision. i believe education gives the poor children a fighting chance to have a better life...

Main Course
What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?

fried chicken... yummy!

Dessert
Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?

i was down with a bad case of flu last january. i must have gotten it after the stressful conditions at work (it was year end!). my flu eventually became cough so bad... good thing little girl didn't catch it. =)

6 quirky things about me

here's a tag from arlene

The rules:

Link to the person that tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Share six unimportant things/habits/quirks about your self. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. Let these random people know that they are tagged by leaving comments in their blog. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

six unimportant things/habits/quirks about myself:

1. i can't eat alone without reading. i need to read something, anything, be it catsup labels or the latest tabloid.
2. i don't like taking baths. (hehehe)
3. i don't enjoy a meal when my utensils don't match.
4. i used to love to chew ice, just for fun. i'd finish off all our ice trays in our freezer ( we had a couple) my singing voice suffered because of this. =(
5. unlike other girls, i hate shopping for clothes and shoes for myself. i find it a chore. i enjoy it more when i'm shopping for hubby or my little girl.
6. i'm afraid of heights.

haha... i can do a lot more but the rule was to put down only 6 things!

i'm tagging liza, cienna, nyree, elo, recel and rowena

missing hubby on a sunday

sunday is hubby's only day off from work, and yet today he is not home with us. after being asked to go to Sta Rosa, Laguna for a whole week for some training, he had to go back to their Libis office yesterday, and then today, a sunday, he was again asked to go on duty for their offsite activity somewhere in cainta. huhuhu. poor hubby. he must be so tired already.

and worse of all, we missed movie night last night. no nanny... no date with hubby...

oh well.

photo hunt :: party

here are some pics from my daughter's 1st birthday party. we celebrated this milestone last year by having a super fun party for her! we had sesame street as our party theme.

parties are always fun, especially when you're surrounded by good friends and family!

party fun provided by yan-ple's =)

Friday's Feast #181

Appetizer
Who was the last person you hugged?

my daughter. hubby left so early for work, i was still sleeping when he left. =(

Soup
Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

i read somewhere that when you are having your picture taken, stick your tongue on the roof of your mouth, this will make your skin look more tight and have less double chin. =) and always groom your eyebrows!

Salad
What does the color yellow make you think of?

happy, happy thoughts. and of course our yellow van, aptly named "hapi".

Main Course
If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

landscapes and portraits of kids, old people and people in love! i would love to take them in either uber vibrant colors or in black and white.

Dessert
What was the longest book you ever read?

hmmm, right now i can't remember. i did read the harry potter series and those books were thick!