Weekend Bedroom Spins

My husband is gross and my 4-year-old is crazy.

Case in point.

Last Sunday morning, Mikaela had the brilliant idea of reviewing her exam papers when we woke up.  She has this really weird study timing. And of course she picked me, to do the reviews with her. Early. Sunday. Morning.  I was actually hoping for a chance to sneak some early morning FB, twitter, instagram, blog reads, session. Alas! No such luck. She is a very persistent girl. So the review commenced. (Oh, btw we reviewed the papers early Saturday morning too! And I have to add that this month is the summer vacation month, no school. Go figure.)

Their Pa is snoring. Loudly. I want to whack him. Either that, or smother him with the biggest pillow I can get my hands on.  Of course, the baby Ayana Rhys wants to hog all my attention too. After every page was turned, every item covered, and Ayana Rhys doing her best to make her Ate Kaela crazy/crazier with her antics, like counting nonsensically while her Ate (Filipino name for elder sisters) is counting also, or snatching and tearing the stapled test papers, and me tethering on the edge of madness, I had a light bulb moment and said, “how about waking up Papa together!” The two crazies sneaked inside their father’s blanket and proceeded to ride and jump on their father’s back! Yay! Sweet revenge! Now here comes the gross part, (Nami and Bridget, I think you know where this story is going), while snuggling together all 3 of them, Mikaela protested, “Baho ka utot Papa oi!” translation, “Your fart stinks Pa!”. I of course gave him the stink eye (pun intended) and what did I get? A sheepish grin! The nastiest thing was, he did it again, with me inside the blanket! This time, I did whacked him on the head and the forehead!

What is it with husbands and farting?

My Little Cat

We have a new “part-time” pet!

Part-time because, well, she is a toddler. And toddlers after all are busy little individuals with a mission to keep us on our toes all the time and of course make us chase the last of our sanities, regularly. Except of course during tube time, in our case, currently? Phineas and Ferb tube time.

My 2nd daughter, Ayana Rhys, is 2 and a half years old, and definitely not the most sociable toddler. She’s wary, she takes her time getting to know other people. If provoked, she’s a force to be reckoned with. Just asked her elder sister Mikaela, or her uncle (Michael 3). Yep. She routinely picks on her uncle too. With provocation. (Except the time when she pinched our good friends’ pretty daughter, Fia. It was her way of showing she finds the baby cute and irresistible. The pinching incidences thankfully now, are rare.)

So last Sunday, on our way to the church to attend the christening of my twin sister’s 4th daughter, (yes, between the 2 of us, we have 6 girls), Ayana went upstairs again to get leggings. She is wearing a dress already. She went up and get leggings to wear. Leggings mania in the house, people. Apparently, it is contagious. And if you’re wondering, Mikaela is as obsessed as always. No sign of wavering whatsoever.

When we arrived at the eat-all-you-can restaurant for the lunch celeb, with around 40 guests, Ayana made it her mission to clean the floor by crawling on all fours and pretended “again” that she’s a cat! Other times, she’s either a pig, a rabbit or a monkey.

When in cat mode, she licks my face, her sister’s face, her Pa’s tummy and mine too! Cute. But. Gross.

We humor her, Ate Kaela by scratching her head and her chin. Me, with a pat in the head. Sometimes, when the mood strikes her, she only answers with a meow!

Me: Yana, you want to open your mouth now and eat your dinner?
Yana: Meow!
Me: Yan, can you stop meowing and brush your teeth now?
Yana: Meow!

See?

Good thing I brought one set of clothes change.

After the cleanup, Ayana Rhys decided to run around and shout at the top of her lungs! Between her and my twins sister’s 3rd daughter Kyle, they were having a blast! Oh well, at least the little cat’s hands and knees are clean now.

Happy weekend everyone!

Waterfalls and Zumba

Hello back to me!

I’m hoping my writing funk ends with this post. Let’s wait and see. I missed my bloggy friends all over the interwebz. And I hope my silent readers will find reason to visit me again now that I’ve managed to shake the blues away. I hope. Fingers-crossed.

So.

This April, the family went for a quick vacation to dear husband’s hometown, the week after the Holy Week. The highlight was the waterfalls adventure. We scaled around 500 steps going down and another 500 steps going right back up,  to see this. Yes, approximately 1000 steep narrow winding steps. What were we thinking! But it was a very rewarding sight!

 

Tinago Falls (main falls)

 

Side falls.

  

Yes, Mikaela is still wearing leggings.

 

Michael II on the left and Michael I on the right. The one on the right holding Ayana Rhys is dear husband.

 

Just have to include this pic. This one is not from Tinago Falls. This was taken way back 2007. The triplets with their brother-in-law Sergie. Michael II wearing the black t-shirt. Michael III on right most and the one on the center’s my dear husband, Michael I.

 

***

On the office front, Zumba is the new IN thing now.  We still do have volleyball, basketball, table tennis and darts activities and tournaments.

 

 

Zumba

 

This picture is not of my office mates or of me. But what joy it would be to have a stomach as sculpted as this and moves as groovy as this!

 

It was disconcerting though to have no verbal cues or step by step instructions on the basic moves during my first session. It is a watch and learn, touch and go, show.

 

But what is so nice about Zumba every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at the volleyball/tennis court, at the back of the office is, the sense of community while doing the easy beats and the fun on keeping up with the faster tunes. Although I have to tell you that the “spectators” are present all the time, and yes, they do comment. But it’s all in the spirit of fun and good workout.

 

Even without the formal instructions on the “moves”, which some others might find a turn-off, I still love the exhilarating workout I get from these TTH sessions. To the IMDS people, especially to Francis our main instructor/guide, thanks!

 

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10 Memorable Reads

This week, our list master Stasha at The Good Life asked us to list 10 books. Here are some of the memorable books, I’ve read. Definitely memorable for the quotes I memorized/listed upon reading it.

 

1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry 

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

“And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

3. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

“Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For thir souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness.
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.”

4. Sophie’s World by  Jostein Gaarder

“So now you must choose… Are you a child who has not yet become world-weary? Or are you a philosopher who will vow never to become so? To children, the world and everything in it is new, something that gives rise to astonishment. It is not like that for adults. Most adults accept the world as a matter of course. This is precisely where philosophers are a notable exception. A philosopher never gets quite used to the world. To him or her, the world continues to seem a bit unreasonable – bewildering, even enigmatic. Philosophers and small children thus have an important faculty in common. The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder…”

5. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

 “She discovered with great delight that one does not love one’s children just because they are one’s children but because of the friendship formed while raising them.”

6. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept  by Paulo Coelho

“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation.”

“Traditional religions practices are important.They allow us to share with others the communal experience of adoration and prayer,but we must never forget spiritual experience is above all a practical experience of love,and with love,there are no rules some may try to control their emotions and develop strategies for their behavior,others may turn to reading books of advice from “experts” on relationships but this is all folly.The heart decides and what it decides is all that really matters.”

7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

 “Prejudices, it is well-known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.”

8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!”

9. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

 “Like everything else, Fletcher. Practice.”

10. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

“Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.” 

 

Giving Birth

Another link up party! Check out these cool moms, Bridget of Twinisms, Tricia of Critters and Crayons and Chrissy of Outlaw Mom are hosting a Mothers Day Blog Hop Party.

Mothers Day Blog Hop

Here are my stories:

Mikaela

Two days earlier (July 27, 2007) the moment we have been waiting for commenced. At the wee hours of the morning I noticed pink discharges when I peed. Not long after that, I experienced mild dysmenorrhea like cramps. Very tolerable. The day came and went with not much action.  The contractions are regular yet tolerable. The next day, July 28, we did our routine hike/walk around the subdivision, for the most part I have to stop and lean on dear husband when the contractions would hit. Pain? Still tolerable but getting stronger and closer. Night came and after dinner we still walked around the subdivision again. By 9pm, I started to really feel real uncomfortable. After the hike, Michael worked on the new Ford program schematics, working overtime and waiting for the big “birth” day! I went to bed ahead of him and prayed and said the novena to St. Raymund Nonato, and prayed again.  But I just kept on going downstairs and walk around because the pain would not permit me to blissful sleep.

July 29, 2007

            Midnight came, I really tried hard to sleep but I just can’t! The contractions are uniformly and regularly 6 minutes apart and definitely stronger! It lasts from 45 seconds to 90 seconds. It is painful. I counted the minutes and waited for morning to come. Michael came to bed around 2am and I wanted him to get some sleep before going to the hospital. So I waited patiently and just kept quiet and endured, for what seemed to be the longest 3 hours of my life.

            6 am, I texted Danna (my younger sister), to have the snake’s oil, yes, this is a culture thing, it is believed that rubbing it on your tummy will help ease a quick and easy delivery, and if you ask me if snakes produce oil, I don’t really know. Unfortunately, she has a school activity, so dear husband proceeded to text Joseph and Lot-Lot Estremera (dear friends/officemates/neighbors) if they have some. Joseph brought it to our house and they advised us to be at the hospital already.

            7 am, I already decided to go to the hospital. The contractions are getting shorter apart. This time, the pain is enough to render me speechless.  I haven’t slept a wink and I was so annoyed with Michael when he asked me if I still want to walk around the subdivision! Hello! I haven’t slept and that alone would make any person cranky, try adding extreme pain to it. I just prayed and thought that this pain is helping me see and hold my baby soon.

            10 am, I was at the labor room already. After the preparatory clean-up, I am strapped to the bed with the fetal and the contraction monitors.  I was thankful because I had a respite.  The contractions though stronger and more painful came irregularly.  The resident OB-GYNE said I am 6 cm dilated.  While waiting for my OB, I was able to relax and sleep a while.

Dr. Chuchi arrived around 11:30 am and when she checked, I am 7 cm dilated and she decided it was time to rupture my bag of water artificially.  I felt a warm gush of water and my OB said the contractions will then come closer and stronger and advised me, If ever I felt the urge to evacuate my bowels, I need to tell them because that would be the time to push the baby.

            11:45 to 12:30, I still haven’t felt the need to push but I am in extreme pain when contractions hit. Doc Chuchi kept checking and kneading (which I don’t really like) my tummy.  The contractions have stalled a bit.

            12:30 to 1 pm, I am in extreme, excruciating, piercing awful dysmenorrhea like pain!  For a moment there, I thought of caesarean section.  I went hot and cold, Doc Chuchi checked and I have dilated to 9 cm and then and there I was wheeled to the delivery room.  The staff was very efficient and I am relieved that finally the end of all this pain is coming.  It is time to push.

            1 pm, I started pushing.  The staff cheered me on.  Then after a moment they left me and came back a little later.  I really liked it when there were so many people urging  me to push and cheering me and coaching me.  When they saw the baby crown, they were very quick in draping me with sterile cloth.  And at exactly 1:24 pm, probably after 7 or so pushes and with a lot of help from the staff, I heard my baby cry.  The happiest sound I have heard in my entire life. I was smiling because the cry was so strong. The nurse showed my baby to me and the very distinct feature is her nose. It was quite long, exactly the as I have imagined it to be during the ultrasound.  I did not feel tired, I felt energized!  I am so awake while my OB was sewing me up. I know. Gross.  We were talking the whole time.   At the recovery room, I could not wait to be at my private room so that I could talk about the whole amazing experience  I’ve had.

            Our baby was 5 lbs and 13 oz and at 48 cm long.

Mikaela

Ayana Rhys

With Mikaela, it was a pretty breezy experience. There were a lot of nurses who helped and cheered and there was even one guy who climbed up the stirrup and did the fundal push. I wasn’t really sure if my pushing was very effective because I wasn’t even aware the moment Mikaela came out. With Ayana Rhys, suffice it to say, I won’t be giving birth anytime soon.

At 7 weeks, my OB-GYNE have to make sure if I’m carrying a singleton and ordered for a TVS (like the first time too!). Yep! So far only single pregnancies.

Born on October 17, 2009 at exactly 4:11pm, at 6 lbs and 6 oz and at 50 cm. She’s big. For me. I’m small at only 4 feet and 11 inches, pre-pregnancy weight of 86 lbs.

The labor stages were basically the same the first time, it started at dawn, only this time, it wasn’t two days earlier. I waited for the intense pain before going to the same hospital 1-2 mins away from us (without traffic). At 2pm I was admitted. My problem was, my OB went to the US for vacation the day before, I have no choice but to make do with whoever is on duty. The big difference is the personalized assistance. With Mikaela, my OB, which incidentally is the mom of one of my good friends from college, was there with me every step of the way. Again they have to pricked my bag of water. This time, when I was wheeled in to the delivery room at quarter to 4pm, no cheering squad, only the OB and one nurse. I was advised to push when I feel the urge. I focused on my mantra, “this too shall pass”. This time I felt the head crowning, I felt Ayana made her entry to the world. Every. Micro-second. Bit of it. In case I wasn’t clear enough, this experience I would not like to repeat soon or ever (?).

As for the snake’s oil I couldn’t exactly remember if I did it this time, but knowing my adamant husband, I think we did, rub some on my tummy before admission. Some medical practitioners frown upon it but some just let it go.

Normal births pain-reliever free twice. Check.

Ayana Rhys

What were your birth stories?

Link up or just share about it on the comments!