Apat na taon na kami!

To the best husband in the planet:
I LOVE YOU!

Happy anniversary to us! :)

Yeyo at 11 months

Well, not exactly 11 now. She's 11 months, 1 week and 6 days old to be exact today. And in just less than 3 weeks, she'll be turning 1!

The little girl would rather stay out of her playpen and insists (and persists) walking (sometimes running -- and our hearts would skip a beat!) by herself, holding onto the wall, a chair, her playpen's posts, the door, what have you! The walking assistant that we got for her just a month ago is slowly exiting the scene.

Her vocabulary is picking up well, too. She has progressed from the ta-ta-ta to Aaah-teh (Ate - her carer), Taaa-tah (Tatay), and Tiki (Butiki! Our resident lizard that appears behind our wall clock every afternoon). And what about uttering Naaa-nah (Nanay)? Worry not, Nanay, just be patient. 

Oh, and she dances to Pink's Raise Your Glass! Yeah! Ang galing! \m/

Yeyo at 10 months

The little girl is now 10 months old and just by looking at this blog, we are only too amazed at seeing a little-big wonder she is fast becoming to be!

Walking is her major activity at this stage, making this a part of her daily routine. She started the pitty-pat last month that by the time she turned 10 months, she's become her own walking boss. Since she finds this new thing about her feet exciting, she would slide down our grip every so often as if to say, "Lakad pa tayo!!!". She walks faster now (with assistance), which made us almost forget that just 4 weeks ago, she was just experimenting with her sandals -- and even gnawing it, for the life of Dora! Hahaha 

Another cute thing about her these days are her antics. When you say "Hi!" to her, she'll wave at you -- she'll wave both hands, if she's too jumpy. Say "Hello!" and she'll put her hand to her ear (telephoning). She blows kisses, too, only that her hand won't leave her mouth when she does that  And when we say, "Kiss, Nanay/Tatay!", oh she'll obey -- with her mouth gaping open touching our cheeks! Hahaha!

What's in store for us next month? We will see...

Yeyo's 9th

Yeyo turned 9 months about a week ago. Has it really been just a week? There'd been a lot of milestones going on with this little girl that we can't help but feel that time is cheating on us. She is now just a quarter away from being officially called a toddler!

Looky here, baby steps! I'm learning how to walk na!

As for the teething report, three extra teeth are slowly breaking through on her upper gums -- making her just 15 teeth shy from completing her first set (We speak this way as if we can out cheat the months, 'no? Hehehe). Since she now has a rather big appetite (she eats 5-7 times a day!), it was high time to clean her teeth. We did this by using a silicone infant teeth/tongue cleaner we got for her when she was still in the womb (Yeyo didn't get the 'white tongue' -- milk residues on the surface of the tongue -- that's why we never got to try this silicone thing on her, until now) 

Apparently, she thought it was merienda time...

What we've been noticing lately, and it is fast becoming a habit of hers, is that she would start crying whenever she sees us leaving the house. And at seeing us back home at the end of the day, she would jump up and down, kick and scream in excitement! We have to act on this now to spare us from the going away everyday drama when she finally learns how to walk! 

Tapos susunod n'yan, mangangalkal na s'ya ng bag at maghahanap ng bubong (pasalubong)! Wah! Not just yet, though. For now, she's still a baby -- our baby.

We love you, anak!

Yeyo's 9th monthsary celebration

Savory at Quezon City
08.06.2011

Celebrated the little tot's 9th monthsary. Papo Joe was in town, too! :) Naku, it's just 3 months 'til she turns one!

8 months

Our cookie turned 8 months last Wednesday, and at this point, she's had a lot of carrots to pit against Bugs Bunny's appetite! Hehehe.

Teething

We no longer -- or a lot less often -- call her Simang(ot). We figured that she finally realized that smiling is more fun than frowning  She smiles and screeeeams her lungs out! She knows the ta-ta-ta language now, too. She's experimenting with sounds and babbling as her first pair of teeth is cutting through (insert Nanay's worried look here -- breastfeeding, please come easy)!

Look Ma, I've got teeth!

Oh, and the net on her bath tub finally gave way sa kabigatan n'ya. Rubber duckies are soon to join her in her tub, but for now, she keeps herself busy with the shape blocks while Nanay shampoos her curly hair.

We're seeing pre-toddler milestones in the coming months. Bring it on!

Yeyo's first chore

Ang sabi ng Nanay at Tatay 'ko, dapat marunong daw ako ng gawaing bahay. Ito ang aking first attempt. -- Yeyo

Tatay's first Father's Day

06.19.2011
Eton Centris, Q.C.

Despite the bed weather, we went out on a family date to celebrate Bibing's 1st Father's Day :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, TATAY! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Keeping it healthy

No artificial food, please.

Yeyo started having solids last month. And as with giving her only breast milk for as long as we can (7 months down the road, still she's not into formula yet! Yey!), we're aiming at a "no artificial, no instant" diet for her. But frankly, we've been quite lax on this one. We never wanted to give her instant infant cereals, but ended up giving her a mixed meal of artificial and natural food -- which made us feel totally uneasy. It felt like giving Yeyo instant noodles morning, noon and night! Never a good feeling.

This weekend, we finally found the time to put our blender to work and whipped up purees for her. The ones we did were a combination of carrots, potatoes and cauliflower -- thanks to baby recipe booklets available online. Here's hoping that Yeyo will eat them all!

Tatay's Day (his first)

For our bedtime K-pop music sessions when I was still kicking in Nanay's tummy 

For taking care of Nanay when I was born 7 months ago

For putting me to sleep whenever Nanay is tired and sleepy

For giving me a bath

For changing my nappies

For our see-saw play times (me soooo likey!)

For kissing me whenever I cry

For always thinking of me whenever you go out of town for work

For working really hard only to make sure I get the best of everything

For your amazing love

For being my Tatay...

THANK YOU.

Happy Father's Day, Tatay! Nanay and I  you!

Yeyo's dedication

06.11.11
San Agustin, Iba, Zambales

We offered the life of our little girl to our Father God in heaven on this very special day. As what the Pastor said in her message, we are only Yeyo's stewards, and as stewards, God entrusted us to care for her, nurture her, and make sure that she grows up knowing and loving God every step of the way. That by the time when she's all grown up, she will be ready to be baptized and follow Jesus.

We thank Papo Fe and Papo Joel (Yeyo's grannies) for making this day happen. Thank you too, to our families, relatives and friends who came to celebrate with us. Cheers! :)

Yeyo's 7th

This little girl is now seven months old, and boy, she sure is drawing all the energy in the world into her arms and legs! We recently got for her a shape sorter, and instead of shooting the blocks into the right slots, she scatters and bangs them together. Well, we figured she'll learn the logic overtime, but maybe not just yet. For now, we let her enjoy her toys as she explores and learns along the way 

Her routines are quite established at seven months -- meal times are part of it. We're still groping our way into coming up with a healthy meal plan for her, but we'll get there. We do not want her to be picky with her food. This kiddo is growing up so fast that we'd have to learn this feeding thing real quick! 

Pretty soon, she'll learn how to walk. That'll be another day 

6 months

Yeyo is now half a year old, and like what her Tatay said just now, "Anak, ayan ba ang ginawa ng patatas sa 'yo?!?!?!" She's so active these days that got us thinking: is she still a baby? Hahaha!

A few days ago, her bassinet already took a bow and the playpen has made its grand entrance. She crawls like a seal for now, but give her a few days more and her carer's nightmare is soon coming true: a true crawl. We're also wondering if she'll ever get to use her car seat (a gift from Vincent's colleagues). Judging from our last trip to Zambales, the little girl gets curious to see what's out the window whenever she's awake, and making her stay put requires a lot of muscle work. How much more keeping her strapped to her seat for 4 hours?

A week before her 6th month, we tried giving her mashed potato.

Her reaction?

We've also rearranged our small bedroom for the nth time to make way for a crawling baby. We bought a padded mat that doubles as Yeyo's play space and Tatay's bed (yes, outside da kulambo na muna sya, hehehe).

Goodbye comforts, hello adjustments, hello, little big girl!

5 months

Our Yeyo kulot is five months old today! Ta-daaah!!!

She gets easily distracted now. Translation: CHISMOSA! She would "eavesdrop" at our conversations. Hehehe. Her curiosity is surfacing. You put a teether down, she grabs it and puts it in her mouth. You put her baby powder by her side, she throws away the teether and eggs on her grooming basket! As if she can put everything in her mouth, diba? Hahaha.

Her being "Simang(ot)" has now transformed into big smiles. Like what her carer would say, "Ang tawa ni Yeyo, naka-silent mode!" 

Bagong gising

Since Vincent is on travel for a week, I'd send him Yeyo's bagong gising pictures (these I took using my phone). As he surely misses the little girl, these would brighten up his day for sure. Too bad I only thought about this when he is about to come home tomorrow. I could've sent him one everyday that he's away. I'll do that next time...and he should do that too, when it is my turn to go on travel (whenever that maybe). 

Sobrang likot, she woke up and there she was by my knees!

Amooooning!!!

4 months

The little girl is now 4 months old! She's now mastered the art of rolling over (she can now lift her butt by pushing her knees up) and HAND sucking. She can seat herself up, but her back has to be supported for now. We're guessing that pretty soon she can do this on her own. We got for her her first set of books, too. And we figured that this one is turning out to be her favorite...

...Her face book! 

She looooves bathing, too!

More milestones pa! Bring it on, darling!

Rolling over

Yeyo's now a veteran at rolling over at 3 months!

Breastfeeding rocks \m/

Happy Mothers, Breastfed Babies
http://www.llli.org/

I looooooooove breastfeeding Yeyo!

When we started planning on getting pregnant, Vincent and I have been conditioning ourselves right from the start that we are going to breastfeed our baby. We talked to our doctor that from the nursery, no formula milk shall be given to her. Lucky for us, our hospital, being state-run, doesn't do that and is very strict with mothers on that. So strict, that no feeding bottles are even allowed to be introduced to any baby born there, unless of course for exceptional cases. The hospital has a sterilized milk bank, that should a mom's milk hasn't come on immediately after birth, they will give breast milk in medicine dropper or syringe, NOT teats, to the baby. This was what happened to me. My milk started letting down 3 days after giving birth. Oh how Yeyo wailed in vain for two nights, having suckled on end with nothing coming out from me, making me and Vincent frustrated and sympathetic at the same time to our poor, hungry baby. It's good that we didn't give up.

I remember when I began training Yeyo to bottle-feed, I was so jealous of her feeding bottles! Funny, but it's true. I had to do that though, for when I go back to work, she'll have no problem transitioning and still get her regular feed. We were not able to use the first set of bottles we got for her, as she had problems latching on to those. She's now using soft teats that quite resemble that of the breast. So far so good...and yes, I still get jealous of them. That led me to invoke my first maternal household rule: NO BOTTLE-FEEDING WHEN I AM WITH YEYO. Except when in public, I give her expressed milk in a bottle. But that is very seldom, though. I nurse her whenever I can, especially at night. There is this sense of calm and contentment whenever I cradle her as she voraciously feeds away. The little one sleeps through the night peacefully since the day she was born, and quietly stirs whenever she gets hungry. I only have to take it upon myself (and I have been very good at this) to mind the clock for her diaper change and take her cue (or sometimes wake her up!) on her feeding.  She doesn't wake the entire neighborhood up with frantic screaming whenever she wakes up in the wee hours of the night. One of our neighbors once told us that it didn't feel like we have a baby in the compound. Hehehe. Good girl, good girl ;-)

Our investments nowadays go to excellent breast pumps that work. I gather information from breastfeeding advocates on the Internet, I get advice and encouragement from my friends and relatives who have breastfed their kids, and am fortunate to have an employer who is very supportive of my lactation needs. I "disappear" at certain times of the day to express milk for Yeyo's stash the following day. I go to our office clinic to use their fridge to store my milk during the day, and then before heading for home, I get ice cubes for my precious cargo.

Yeyo has been on exclusive breast milk for three months now, and we intend to give her that for as long as we can. We only want to give her the best, and that gives us the peace of mind that we need. It's not an easy thing to do. We get criticized as much as we are praised for having decided to do this. It requires a lot of hard work (expressing milk, storage and feeding times takes a lot of effort) and sacrifice (staying up and about at 3AM to let that milk flow down; 30 minutes lost at work for lactation sessions), but we are determined. We definitely deserve a pat on the back for this!

Hats off to all breastfeeding moms! We all rock! Yeah!

    

One Fine Sunday Morning...

Teng, Yeyo and I went down the street to look for breakfast! :p

Yeyo and her mobile

Whenever Yeyo gets makulit and we'd want to distract her, we'd put her in her crib and turn on her mobile. She does pay attention to it, although at times she gets bored gazing at it. Maybe because all it does is just to revolve the bugs around and only plays one song (Lullaby)? Boring nga naman. Hehehe. 

Ay, o, bugs!...

...hikaaaaab! (bored)...

...nakatulugan na after taking a bath...

...sobrang lalim tulog, she poses her favorite "kili-kili" pose...

...ayan, gising na (kusot mukha)...

...huh?! Antok pa 'ko e (sabunot buhok)...

...ngi! And'yan ka pa rin?!

Yeyo's second month

Our cheeky turned two months old last week. Sobrang bilis ng mga araw. That wide-eyed, fragile bundle we first saw in the hospital two months ago is now gone. What we have now is a beaming, cooing, hand sucking, and cuddly little girl. Leaving her every morning is a struggle, and coming home at the end of the day is what we always look forward to every day! Haaay...

She now coos, smiles and communicates

Oh, and she even mimics Harry! Hahaha!

Looking forward to more milestones, anak! Keep on surprising us