Smart Parenting Baby Shower Event

Last month, I was so lucky to be part of the Smart Parenting Baby Shower event held on Discovery Suites in Ortigas. Just like any first time moms who doesn't have a clue on parenting relies on internet aside from our lovable parents, relatives and friends.

From the Press Release "Smart Parenting, the largest parenting news and lifestyle brand in the country, celebrates the joy and thrills of the first stages of being a mother with its annual Baby Showe. "A lot of expectant mothers look forward to the Smart Parenting Baby Shower as it has become a venue for interactive and hands-on learning, as well as fruitful dialogues among mothers about the wonderful and exciting journey of pregnancy," said Lei Dimarucut-Sison, Smart Parenting Managing Director.

I arrived with Coi of Heymamacoi.com just before the event started. I was surprised to see a lot of Preggy Mommies who spent their time in the event. I was so afraid to bump with them kasi baka tamaan yung tummy nila. Lol! We saw Nheng of Nhengswonderland.net too!

We roam around the place and check each booth.

We were greeted with a very kikay set up.

The giveaways

The event started with welcome remarks by Smart Parenting's Managing Director, followed by a talk with Dr. Jaime Isip-Cumpas regarding the Importance of Gentle Softness on Baby's skin.

Raffle Prizes and games was of course one of the fun part. Of course the games have to be gentle to give way to preggy mommies! I was so competitive I won a nursing pad. Lol! Feeling ko naagawan ko pa yung mga soon-to-be-Mom. hahaha! Sorry po. I was thinking of giving it away na lang. =)

We were also treated by a sumptuous buffet for our lunch.

After our filling lunch, the talks continued with different topics that's really helpful to Moms. They also answered questions from the crowd which made the talks more interesting. Ms. Betty San Luis talked about Birthing Methods, Ms Sharon Agoncillo Galang discussed about Baby Sign Language and even showed videos of her own child using their own sign languages at the age of less than a year! The last talk was about Breastfeeding with Ms. Zenaida Feliciano.

Smart Parenting also offered yoga for participants c/o Urban Ashram or a crafting segment by Coni Tejada. Of course I have to choose the Crafting segment kasi I am too shy to do yoga! Lol. But I loved to try actually, wala lang akong outfit hahaha!

Scribble Onesies/Bib

We were given each a bib that we could use to design and the best won a prize!

Our special guest finally revealed herself. None other than Bianca-Gonzalez-Intal. She had a talk about her journey as a mom to her cute little girl Lucia.

The Mommies were so lucky some of them won a crib, stroller etc.. Very lucky Mommies I would say! Bakit parang I am not aware of this things nung buntis ako kay Jami?!.Hahaha..

We all went home with samples from their generous sponsor including Downy Baby Gentle which I liked! Sobrang smooth sa damit perfect for baby's delicate skin. =)

Our takehome

Thank you Smart Parenting for the wonderful afternoon of fun and learning. =) Visit www.smartparenting.com.ph or follow them on Facebook via facebook.com/smartparenting.ph, and @_smartparenting on Twitter, and @smartparenting on Instagram.

Nickelodeon Slime Cup Run 2016

The other day, I was invited by Que of Takbo.ph to join them on Nickelodeon Slime Cup Run 2016. It was Nickelodeon's first Family-Fun Run ever so I was really excited to join!

They offer a Distance of 200m/1k/3k run.

I am really so excited to join since it'll be our first time to join a fun run. Lol! I have been planning to join in the past even before I got pregnant with Jami pero laging loss, I don't know where to start and I am too lazy to go training. Syempre hindi naman pwede na go lang ng go diba? Kailangan yan may preparation muna.

Anyway, the ones that we'll do was the 200m lang which is for Jami and I. Hehehe! Sasamahan ko lang naman sya for sure and Daddy will have the 3k run. =)

For more information, go to http://www.takbo.ph/2016/05/nickelodeon-slime-cup-run-2016/
or here FAQ Page.

 Run Run Run!! =)

Disney on Ice - Magical Ice Festival

Finally!! I'll be able to blog about our Disney on Ice experience last January. Last weekend lang ako sinipag to upload some photos na inamag na sa phone ko! Lols.

Anyway, Last November, I won two tickets to Disney on Ice from our Mommy Bloggers Philippines' Halloween Party Year 2. I was really happy since I never watched a Disney Show ever!! As in ever!! Although I am grateful that the tickets will be for two, I was hoping it was 3 because there were 3 of us, daryl, Jami and I. We found out about the schedule around December and I chose to watch the January 2 show.

Show starts at 10am and we were coming from Pasay City only. Imagine, we could just take the MRT to Araneta-Cubao and viola, we'll be there. Kaso, ang bagal talaga kumilos ni Daryl I got so pissed talaga. Aside from that, wala kaming budget since kakatapos lang ng New Year! (But  I am better now in money matters, or so I thought. lol). The cost of the seat we were given was P1,900 and I am not very willing to spend that much. Glad to hear that Mommy Anna, of MyWorld Mommy Anna, said that they were given a chance to go inside (3 of them too) and pay only the Upper Box Regular Seat for Kulit (her son) which will be seated on her lap na lang. When I discussed that with Daryl, wag na lang daw. Sayang ang anda (money) so okay, he waited for us outside. Lols!

Anyway, we arrived in Araneta at 10:30am. We were seated on Patron Regular which is definitely near the stage pero on the right side nga lang. You could see every movement pero the characters were not facing you most of the time so puro side view lang yung pictures. Lol! You couldn't see much of their facial expressions.

As we arrived, finish na pala yung segment ni Princess Ariel so we were only able to watch Tangled, Beauty and the Beast and Frozen. I was so amazed, because the characters looked like the ones in the movie. Lols! I really enjoyed each part and so did Jami. He can't take his eyes on the characters although I got a little sad for him na syempre puro Princesses ang stories. Anyhow, We were thrilled when it was time for Frozen because of the man-made snow (bula)! Para nga lang kaming nag sabon na hindi nabanlawan because of that. Hehe!

Let me show you some of the photos I took while we were watching. There were actually plenty of photos so I was surprised na iilan na lang when I uploaded the photos yesterday. Baka binura ni Jami..

During a Lantern Thingy in Tangled

They lived happily ever after

Beauty and the Beast

Intermission Number with Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy, Minnie

 I would like to let you know that after 2 shows, there will be a 15 minute break. Just like you watching a basketball game in Arena, there will be people selling food like Popcorn, hotdogs, sodas etc. The sad part was of course, it's double the price. Food are not allowed inside you I suggest you eat before going in to avoid unnecessary spending. There were also memorabilia being sold ranging from Php500-Php1,800 so be ready. Good thing I was able to brainwash Jami not to buy one. Hehe. Yang batang yan naman, when I told him "wala tayong money," he will listen at hindi na ipipilit yung pagpapabili nya.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the free tickets and the show! I was hoping to say we'll come back pero not anytime soon because, you know, there were so many things I would rather watch or activities to do than watching it again. Maybe when Jami is a little older na lang, like around 5 years old. =)

Thank you MBP and Disney on Ice for a very wonderful experience. Oh! We don't have a picture after hehe.! I always forget. =(

Jami at 31 Months

I kept on thinking how to start this blog post and I can't think of anything honestly. I don't know how to start and what to talk about. Lols!

Well, I mainly want to share the things that Jami does now that he's 31 months old. I know I have already told you that he talks a lot. I am surprised everyday that he can converse like an adult! Just like this morning. Daryl and I weren't in a good mood to start the day and we're not talking to each other. Pero yung tipong kapag tinanong ka naman, sumasagot ng maayos levels. I was playing with Jami when he said,

Jami: Lagi tayo sa bahay, lagi tayo sa condo, lagi tayo sa car.

Hearing those words, sobrang na surprise ako because he definitely understands our routines. And to think that he said those words na para bang pinapagalitan nya ako na that's what we do everyday at sawang-sawa na sya. Lol, it was priceless!

Last night, Wogi (the car) had a flat tire. There was a mistake and the tire na naipalit was the one na may butas na talaga. So we have to stop over sa may Unioil Sucat to get the tire's change.

Jami: Diba nasira yung gulong ni Wogi?

I was like.. Yes! Lol. I just can't believe na parang kahapon lang, he was this tiny baby na ang alam lang gawin is to drink milk and play tapos suddenly he became so madaldal!

Last weekend, I brought him to his pedia to follow up his cough. It's been two weeks na kasi and I am so worried. Tumagal lang because we had a vacation so later ko pa sya nadala sa pedia ulit. When we were there, I was told that Jami has an asthma and the cough is triggered by sobrang pagod, or pinagpawisan, it could also be the allergies like maalikabok etc. I was asked again if may asthma that runs in the family. As far as I know wala sa amin. Daryl said his cousins have so syempre kahit it's not an immediate family, for sure Jami will get it. Although I am thankful to heavens that he was the asthma that I know of, yung tipong hirap makahinga and so on. We were given anti-histamine for 2 weeks at bedtime and I think that lessens the cough. Aside from that, it was suggested that Jami stays sa airconditioned room.

Well he sure is getting better. The cough is somehow lessened and hoping will be gone soon.

Remember that Jami is so much of a picky eater? He's really very hard to feed but lately, he's starting to show interest in food. Hindi man ganon kadami but at least, we're making it possible. I am aiming to make him eat more type of food in the future and sana, magawa na namin. =) 

Goals! Update for First Quarter of Year 2016

I just got back from a vacation last week and it was fun! We had a lot of first actually. Jami’s first airplane ride was the highlight of it. Next na lang yung beach and our first major trip as a family ever! Hehe.. We went to Boracay for 3 days and 2 nights which I’ll tell you about in the coming days. =)

Anyway, sobrang bilis ng panahon ano?! Grabe we’re halfway thru May and ilang tulog na lang, June na agad! OMG. Hindi ko ma feel ang panahon!! For some Mommies out there, feel na feel nila because another school year is about to start! I heard from some of my officemates na nag papaaral ng kids, grabe na talaga ang tuition fee ngayon! Kaya I really have to do something about our finances to make sure na maka cope up kami sa gastusin later in life especially kapag nag school na si Jami.

Well, I am going thru major changes now especially in our finances since it’s the very first time that I understood how to budget our money. And because of our recent family getaway, mejo kailangan munang magtipid. Hehe..

This post is just a look back on what I want to achieve this year. From time to time, I wanted to be able to understand how our life is at this point and what we can do to change to plan B if plan A isn’t working. At the start of this year, I have posted my goals here in the blog and even printed it out to make sure that it’s accessible whenever I want to focus.

Financially

**Savings - I wrote about continuing the 52 weeks money challenge that I had last year. This was a fail since I never get the chance to save following this. I was actually putting the money in a cooperative in the office and we're about to get the money by the end of June. It was a mid-term savings that I had (since it's 6 months) from January and I am so glad my money earned Php500 the last time I was checked. I had 2 shares so it was a total of Php1,000 for both shares. Not bad isn't it? Saving Php600 per month in my atm savings won't give me that much of an interest diba? So I am quite happy with it. I was thinking of adding more shares pero there might be some changes in the coop on the next term raising the amount from Php300 to P500 a month so I might have to think about adding a share.

**Junior Savings Account - Back in 2014 when I started a Junior Savings Account for Jami. It was a form of a passbook to basically just put in money as long as I can and give it to Jami when he's older. It took a year before I realized that I am not making progress on this part so one of the plans I had this year was to actively put some money in it. Since this passbook doesn't earn a huge amount of interest, I minimized the amount being placed to Php1,000 a month. Later this year, I have decided to make this as our emergency fund. I have read in a book that Emergency Fund should always be accessible anytime for any emergency situation that may arise. I am aiming for a 3 month worth of my salary and hopefully, I can pull this off by the end or at least first quarter of next year. At this point, I am still far from the goal but I am loving the progress that we're making. =)

**Loans - I am still working on paying these loans from government agencies (Pag-ibig and SSS). By the end of June, once the coop was released, I'll use the money to pay off the Pag-ibig loan. I hope I could manage to pay both of them this year.

**Additional Income - I am so glad I was able to use some of my 13th month pay last year to buy a convection oven that I am using to bake goods. I sell them in the office and I am so glad that it was a hit. I am looking forward to grow the business although I stopped last week due to our vacation. Hoping I could get back this week and moving forward. =)

Family

**Staycation - It is still one of the plans this year. I was thinking of having a staycation on my birthday although there were still plenty of bills to pay due to our recent trip. I still have couple of more months before the year ends so hopefully, this can be made possible. =)

**Travel - Early this year, I was able to score a seat sale for a roundtrip ticket in Boracay. At last! It was Jami's first airplane ride and family's first out of the island tour? Lols. Although traveling could really be fun but expensive, I'll be planning our travel carefully in the future and make sure that it's only one major travel per year only. Hehe. We also had the chance to go to Baler in March so we had 2 this year na. =)

**Househelp - This is definitely the least in my priority at the moment. I can't accommodate another expenses (yaya's salary, food, electricity etc that she's going to use). Since Daryl's not working at the moment, sya na lang ang mag aalaga for the time being until he finds a new job.

**Daryl's Passport - Second least priority since we're not leaving the country anytime soon anwyway. So this can wait.

**Family Photo - As the days are passing by, we are getting to use with a family photo. It started when we traveled to Boracay. It was really fun taking pictures of us so this will continue and I hope we could post more of this in the coming days. Ang hirap lang because walang magpipicture lagi so it has to be selfies lang lols. =)

Blog


**Renew blog domain - yes, I was able to renew this in January.

**Blog Event - I was able to attend an event although it wasn't as plenty as last year so I hope I could attend more in the coming months.

**Earning - I failed to blog often since I was really busy with baking and office so earning is one of the least that I could expect in this blog. =)

 **Projects - there was a project being offered couple of months ago but never heard anything from the client yet.

**Giveaway - yes! I had my first giveaway which was sponsored by Trisopure. May isa pa ngang hindi na claim. Lagi ko kasing nakakalimutan! hayyy.. Tomorrow, I'll drop by in 7-11 para mai ship na talaga.. Sorry Jing. :)

**Improve Blog Photos - nothing has changed. Camera became one of my least priority so sorry na lang sa basher ng blog na ito. Pagtyagaan muna ang photos for the meantime. :p

I saw some improvements in some part of the plan. I am so happy at least I made some things possible and I can't wait to accomplish all of these that are remaining. There were some additional plan/goal though, like getting a VUL from Sunlife which was my very next priority. I am looking to start probably around July. =)

How about you Mommies? Did some of your goals came true? 

Baler Trip 2016: Hanging Bridge and Ermita Hill

OMG! May na!! We’re almost halfway through 2016! I can’t believe it..

Anyway, I realized that I only had 3 blog post for the month of April. Ouch! That sucks! Really sorry for being a bad blogger. I actually have a lot of things to blog about pero I can’t find a time to do so. I am off track with how I wished to blog pero wala eh, busy with work, sideline and personal life.

Well, it’s always not late to start blogging again, I guess. This time, I would like to continue my Baler Trip because it’s still summer! Hello?? =)

Our final day to Baler was to visit any last places we can manage to before heading our way home. Well, we sure want to visit Ermita Hill since it was said to be a safe place during Tsunami. My officemate who was raised in Baler said that there were only 8 families who survived the Tsunami/Tidal Wave of some sort years and years ago because they all went to Ermita Hill. Exciting isn’t it? I won’t miss that for the world. =)

Our plan was to swim in the beach early in the morning. We have to hit the road before noon so we could still have the chance to buy pasalubong. Besides, our driver doesn’t want to go up and down the mountain in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, I woke up late – 8am and that made me feel like it was 11am already. I don’t know why but I felt a little panic that my officemates were having a good time swimming while I just woke up! Kamusta naman yun! Ahahaha. So what I did, I I asked Jami to swim immediately but he was so scared of the beach! Really scared he kept on crying. Ayaw na ayaw nya ng beach talaga because it’s salty, it hurts his eyes, waves are crazy (most of the beaches we went to) and probably he’s overwhelmed with how big the sea could be. Sounds familiar, nagmana sakin si Jami. =)

We had our homemade breakfast cooked by Ibyang, our officemate. Took a bath then check out from our lodge. We hit the road around 10am already. We went to Hanging Bridge which I didn’t think was included in our itinerary. We went off the van and checked out a stall that sells souvenir items. Shirts costs Php150 both for kids and adults. I was thinking if this was the best deal since we haven’t been to any souvenir shops in the market. I opted not to buy anything since I bet we could find a lot cheaper souvenir items along the way.

nakahubad because it was really hot!!

Some of our officemates no longer wish to cross the bridge as it looked like just a normal bridge you see plus, it was really hot that day. But for the sake of Jami’s first time on a hanging bridge, naglakas loob talaga ako. I was just really lucky that Daryl was carrying Jami all along because I can’t contain myself! I didn’t know that the bridge was really long and that the wind blew really strong it sure can sway the bridge!! Grabe! Natakot ako while crossing the middle part of bridge. Some locals who saw me from down there were laughing at me. Hmp! Anyway, what was below the bridge looked like a continuation of the sea so I felt really scared that the water could be more than 5 feet deep! Nyay!!

it was the other part of the bridge na after we crossed.

Going back to the other side this time. Family picture! :)

We took some photos then off we go to our next stop!

Ermita Hill!!

I was really excited to see what it offers! Well, literally, it was a real hike. Mountain top kasi kaya Ermita Hill. We took pictures of the statues that symbolizes the 8 families who went up there during Tidal Wave that wiped out the whole province. It was a really steep way going up although stairs are provided for tourists’ convenience. But since we were so tired of the hike we did yesterday at Ditumabo Mother Falls, nanginginig na ang mga tuhod ko kada akyat!

There isn’t so much to see in Ermita Hill aside from the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean! I can’t believe it, dati I can only read them in books, but now, I am looking at it.. LIVE! We went up to this little stage at the very peak where we saw people or probably students, having some practice with their dance recital.

We saw this stairs going up the mountain. I was intrigued on what was above it although I saw a huge cross from above. The ice cream vendor said that there isn’t so much to see on that part of the mountain anymore but still we headed to the top. It was a really long stairs going up that reminded me of Mt. Tapyas in Coron, Palawan. I admired Daryl for carrying Jami most of the time which made me less tired. Lol. We were the only people to climb that part! I felt scared baka may serial killer sa taas! Lol.

you see the mountain top? Yun yung inakyat namin na hindi well maintained, super sayang (from Kaye's phone)

Anyhow, the ice cream vendor was right as the mountain top wasn’t maintained well. There’s nothing much that you could see except the trees and plants that are too tall to see the 360 view of Pacific Ocean or Aurora itself. I felt sad since it could attract more tourists to go up here if it was maintained and if they made a view deck there. Although I was told that during holy week, people would go up to the cross.

The driver took us back to the market to buy some souvenirs. Near I ♥ Baler sign (you should see this because there’s always a lot of people lining up to take pictures), there was a tiangge that sells souvenir shirts. After some haggling, I got my shirt for Php150, Daryl’s dri-fit muscle shirt was for Php150 too and Jami’s shirt was for Php100. That was a lot better compared to Php150/each shirt from a souvenir shop near Hanging Bridge.

We headed home after our souvenir shopping and opted to have our lunch in Cabanatuan since we would like to cross Sierra Madre before late afternoon. We had our late lunch and early dinner in Robinson’s Mall in Cabanatuan and headed straight home after. Oh! I forgot to tell you na walang phone signal sa Baler, so lahat kami, hindi makapag social media! Lol.

That's it for our overnight Baler Trip! It was a lot of fun!! Can't wait for more out of town trips with my friends here in the office. =)