my little angel's first christmas

My little man...

Daddy's little guppy :)

First christmas of my little son-shine. He just turned 10 months a few days ago, more active as i thought. He is more aware of what's happening in his surroundings now, love to watch those christmas lights flashing and likes the decors that i hang around the christmas tree and of course love to grab all of it. He can stand now without holding onto furniture and trying to learn walking slowly hand's free. He can say mama and papa now but mostly babbling sound which is loud, not kidding, it is loud, hmmm i guess he will be a singer then (mommy's wishful thinking hehe), i hope he will be like his lolos (grandfather) both sides that really has a nice voice....time flies so fast, he usually love to sleep with me in the bed early in the morning, i used to take him out from crib and transfer to my bed around wee hours, but it changed just a few weeks ago, he is more comfortable sleeping in his crib whole night till he wakes up, i missed it though :(.....my baby is a little boy now, he wants to be alone sometimes and play......i was waiting for this moment, to be independent, not wanting mommy all the time.....but now that is happening, i feel sad :( i know, i'm weird hehe....its just that i missed the times he wants me to cuddle him all the time.....baby grows so fast as i always say, enjoy and treasure every moment with him......

my little man's first halloween

My Little son-shine had his first halloween, too bad we never went out for trick or treating as he has still runny nose from colds, well, he wont enjoy it yet anyways, he is just 8 months and almost 2 weeks old...if we did, just mommy and daddy will enjoy the treat for sure :)...

At the same day, Douglas starts crawling in is knees and after a day he tried walking a few steps while holding onto the furniture. We are just so amazed how fast he is. Now, he is more curious, more into exploring objects, when he see some of his toys like the rattles, he will really look into it, tried to shake several times, maybe he's wondering when he shake the rattle, it makes a sound. Now he is fascinated and enjoyed playing his toys, especially the ones that has a sound. Gosh! babies grows so fast, just few months away my baby will be a toddler. Now i have to enjoy every moment with him and try to catch every developmental milestone he developed every month.

Douglas

My name is Douglas, and i am 7 1/2 months old

Thats my daddy, and I love him so much!

He makes me laugh all the time, he is my clown..hehe...

reading a story book for my baby

I started reading a story book for my precious son since he was 3 months old, he enjoyed and loves it very much, i know at that age, babies doesn't understand it yet but the sound of your soft voice is soothing to them, its an important stimulation too, when you read a book, they will see the illustrations, they will be familiar with the shapes, numbers, colors and letters. He will learn to listen, memorize, and helping his vocabulary too, i know he's too young to learn how to talk yet but early as possible is the better, reading aloud will stimulate their hearing. According to the author of kidshealth.org site that i stumbled upon, it says there that hearing words helps to build a rich network of words in a baby's brain. When you start early, babies will talk early too and loves book and will carry it until they grow old.

But i stopped reading him a book when he was 5 months old, well, my fault, i was so busy trying to lose weight and i took the time in exercising. Now, i realized, i shouldn't do that. I tried to rread him again started last week, i admit, it was frustrating, it seems he is not interested anymore, i regret what i did, well, its not too late, he's still a baby and lots of room for learning, well, i'm trying even though, now when i tried to read him a book, he will turn his head away, but i know, for him its new again, pretty soon, just few days more, he will love books again for sure.. :)

home away from home....

Some of my friends and relatives asked me how my life away from my native home land, they usually assume that i'm living a wealthy life...

It's sad to say, the way of thinking of most filipinos when somebody married to a foreigner or working abroad especially in well developed countries like canada or the US, thinks that you are living and sleeping in the bed of roses.... i admit, when i was young i thought that too...but then i always wonder, most filipinos worked in these countries, they usually said "life is a lot better abroad" but then 90% of them always comes home and retire in the philippines. Is it just, the saying goes "there's no place like home"?

For 2 years living here, based on my personal experiences, i agree, life is alot different from the philippines. Honestly, you can have everything you wish here, like nice unpolluted environment, cars, nice house, gadgets, i mean all things that make your life more easier specially in doing household chores. What can you ask for more? Everything is here....BUT of course you will have to work hard to have all these....here, it is a need to own a car because the public transportation such as a bus are just in limited area due to the vastness of the land area, but in the philippines, there's always tricycle or a motorcycle that you can hire wherever you wanna go, well, it is a small country, so, having a car there is a luxury. Here, it is a need to make your house weather proof and have a good heating system or else you will die by hypothermia, hmmmm in my own opinion, i guess, that's why most people have a mortgage, because, weather you like or not, it is a must to have a good house to live. But in pinas, it is a tropical country where its always hot and humid whole year round, some people just live in a nipa hut and they are contented with it, the important is the family are together. I didnt say that filipinos has no mortgage too, but i'm talking to a common filipino, poor and the middle calss family, they have loans too but only a small amount of money. Here, it seems you have a lot of bills to pay monthly, aside from the basic needs such as, electric, natural gas for heater, telephone line, property tax and household insurance, and there's internet provider too where i find it a must here, plus some extra bills from cellphone provider, satellite tv, and garbage fee, and not to mention auto insurance too, usually in 1 household owns 2 to 3 cars here, so its really expensive. But what shock me most is the tax that you have to pay here, there's 3 kinds of tax actually that are added in every goods that you purchased and bills you pay.....one thing i find here too, it seems most people owns a credit card, well, online shopping is popular and the easiest way to pay is through credit card, and of course it's an easy way to loan money too. But in the philippines, the common filipino, the only basic needs are having a good roof that is not leaking no matter if the house is done or not, or if its just a nipa hut, people are contented when they are eating 3 times a day, as long as the family are in good health. Bills that need to pay monthly are just electric and water. Just few people owns a computer, so you can see a lot of internet cafe' in the city where they can have an internet access. We pay our yearly tax too, but thats just it. I had a credit card before when i was there but i rarely use it. Telephone line is not really a must, but you can see that most filipinos owns a prepaid cellphone. Oh, one thing too, labor is really expensive here, you can not hire a nanny or hire somebody to clean your house because you have to pay them hourly and its really expensive, that is why most houses here owns a machines to help you doing household chores. Unlike there, the labor is really cheap that even the middle class family can hire a nanny and a maid so easily, and plus filipinos are very close family, in one household, usually has an extended family, where relatives and parents live in one house, so its a realtive's responsibility too in helping you doing some household chores and specially in taking care of your baby.

In my own opinion, why filipinos still going back to the philippines in spite of tthe good life they have here, well, first, since filipinos are very close family ties, they want their family to enjoy what they have too, its not perfect when your family is far. Second, though you have everything here, nobody will help you, still its hard when no one helps you here and third, it seems you will work until you die, as you need to pay a lot of bills, but when you work hard and earned enough money, its the best way to invest and spend your dollar in the philippines since the value of a dollar in exchange to philippine peso is really high, so when you live there, you live like a king, and whats more inportant, is you will be with your family too....No matter what the status of your life as long the family are together, happy and in good health.....life is a lot better......This is just all my opinion, based on what i saw and experienced too.

Douglas at 6 and a half months

my little one just had his first solid food, the first food he tasted was a steamed broccoli, and slowly i gave him 3 other kinds of vegetbles using the baby safe feeder mesh bag just to have a taste of the food for a week. And then after, i slowly introduced him to 2 kinds of fruits using the mesh bag too. The reason why i waited for a week before i gave him fruits is because i want Douglas to like veggies first, if i given it the same time, he will love the fruits more because it is sweet and tastier than the veggies, and the tendency is he will lose his appetite in veggies then. Some parents start to feed thier babies around 4 months, but our doctor told us to do it around 6 months so the baby wont develop allergies in some foods.

After 2 weeks. i fed him twice a day with pureed veggies and fruits. I tried to cook 2 kinds of veggies with alittle meat on it, this week i made a semi afritada for him, with potato, carrots, celery and a little prok meat and tomatoes, and then i pureed and devided it in a small container and freeze it. I do fed him infant cereal too but i made sure that its an iron fortified one, babies needs more iron at this time, though full term babies got enough iron from the mothers until 6 months, so at this time, the iron begin to decrease and we know that iron is an essential meniral needed for the growth and development of the body. There are some infant cereal that are not really the best, my husband and i always read the labels when we bought one for Douglas, some are really high in sodium and some are high in sugar which are bad for the babies. The best one we found is from Hienz an organic one, well, we know if we talk about organic, we expect to pay double, but if it's best for babies, price wont matter at all....well, as long as we can still afford it hehhe....if its the case, then its better to make your own baby food then, rest assured that its low in sodium, low in sugar and definitely low in msg and chemicals......

reminising the past...

was super tired today, i cleaned the entire house and did extra things too...if mama and papa knows about it, i'm pretty sure they will be proud of me. Gosh just super super tiring! at times like these, i always remember my life back in the philippines, i grow up in a family were my parents worked in the government and earning fairly decent salaries, over the years, maid come and goes, though we had somebody to take care of the house, us (kids) are well trained to do things around the house mostly every weekends, i remember, when we were in elementary and high school, we had to pull weeds or scrub the floor in exchange for something like if we want a new clothes or accessories, but most especially if we wanted to watch a movie. One thing, my parents made sure that my twin sister and i knows how to cook, infact eventhough we had somebody to cook, we still the one in-charge in the kitchen, it's our responsiblity....excluding washing the dishes though...hmmmm, i guess thats it! the reason why i hate doing the dishes until now is because i'm not used to, just once in a while when maid is on day off, when i was a kid......now, i appreciate more what my parents did to us, we know how to value money, if we want something, we have to earned it first, and now that i'm married, away from my family and relatives, i do everything around the house, no maid or relative to lend a hand, including washing the dishes, shockssss!!! the first time it was hard, it was a shock, i dont deny, i cried, but it was just a short time, with the way my parents trained me, it never really a hard time for me....but i still admit, for almost 2 years now, i still hate washing dishes hehehe.....

i want my son to value money, he has to do errands to earn it.... be responsible, respectful and knows God and be the center of his life....i will do my very best to instill to my son what i have learned from my parents.....

To mama and papa, i love you so much, thank you for the wisdom you've shared, for everything you've done to us, you made us a better person.....I love you!

Passion Profiles

I really miss my family back in the philippines, i've been away for almost 2 years now...i miss the bonding of the family at dinner time everyday. My twin sister and i usally take turns in cooking especially for supper, we just love to cook. Every occasion at home like birthdays and holidays or simply just for fun, i am usually the one incharge in the kitchen, but when my twin sis took the cuisine lesson, i was just simply her side kick then, but it was fun, she taught me everyting she knows, lucky for me as its free of charge hehe....i remember, if ever we are out and tasted yummy food, we tried to copy and try to cook it at home, sometimes invent new recipe for the family too...believe it or not, i still have my recipe i've learned in my high school cooking lesson....me and my twin sister always had fun in the kitchen, we're perfect partners in the kitchen as we shared same passion.....But now that i'm away, i still have the passion in cooking, i love watching food network as one of my past time and trying some of the recipe i've watched.
Lucky for me as my husband loves to cook too and bought a lot of recipe books, i kid you not, we got 2 bookshelves of cook books alone, but still not contented i've copied a lot of recipes from the internet too. Now that its summer, barbeque is always in the menu...i love to share one of my recipe: dina-style barbeque kebab recipe (filipino style bbq), you can check the recipe soon as i am trying to post some of my favorite recipes at i love foods category by visiting my blog. Right now i'm still updating it.

It reminds me that one of my favorite host from The heat aired in food network will be on PASSION PROFILES this coming August 25, 2010. Passion Profiles is a very inspiring online series talk show sponsored by Haagen-Dazs where it showcasing some of canada's finest chef, musicians and designers, sharing their life stories, thougths and inspirations. Hosted by ET Canada star and host, Cheryl Hickey. This is not just for entertainment where you can watch your favorite personalities but you can acquire ideas and inspires you pursuing your passion and be successful. Dont forget to watch this inspiring talk show that truly entertains and inspires the viewers.

hot summer days....

oh my goodness, its almost a week now that we are experiencing an extreme weather condition here in BC, Canada....gosh! its just super super hot, hotter than in the philippines! Alot of people here likes it though but it's scary because its dangerous as its prone for fires.....one way to cool off?.... a fruit shake or slushie and a plunge in a cool water in the pool... thanks to our new inflatiable pool that we bought, its 3 and a half ft deep and 18 feet wide, so its perfect for a little swim....down side for this is my skin getting darker and darker though.....i am an asian with a fair complexion, so i hate my skin will become darker.....but its ok, summer is almost over, so i have to like it, winter here takes a long time so i must enjoy the sun then.....

Douglas at 5 months

Here i am again trying to update my blog, i was away for almost 3 months now...well, i am a full time mom to a very challenging pretty baby boy that i adored and loved so much, i tried several times within those months but circumstances came up that was beyond my control.

Douglas just turned 5 months a few days ago, he is very active now, can roll over and reach objects and pays attention with the voice or sounds he hears, and when you tried to talk to him, he will talk back to you too by babbling. What i love about him the most, is he smiles and giggles alot, that is why i enjoyed more playing with him as he smiles back at me.

At this time, there's always new with him everyday. Oh there's one funny thing, now he is amazed with his feet, he grabs his feet and tried to put one foot in his mouth and suck it....weird but its funny hehe...

Time goes by so fast, it seems it was just yesterday that i gave birth of my precious little one, now he is recognizing and smiling at his mommy and his daddy. I haven't finish my scrap book about him yet. Shocks! My to do list almost reach the floor now! A mommy, a wife, a nanny and a homemaker = all in one! gosh, no wonder a day is not enough for me.

But being a mommy to my son Douglas, is the best thing that ever happened to me. The best gift that God has given me.

Douglas @ 3 1/2 months

We had a visit from our doctor last week for Douglas routine check-up, the doctor was so amazed because Douglas can hold his head steady and turn sideways now, and he said that Douglas has a strong legs too for 14 weeks because he can support his weight when i tried to hold him and let him stand in his feet. What amazed me the most is he loves to talk now, i mean when you talk to him he will respond to you by smiling right away and tried to talk back too, well a baby talk of course. Oh its just a heart warming 'coz he's smiling more often now, and it seems he is fascinated with peoples faces.

We have several pictures of butterflies hanging in our living room and a small butterflies hanging on strings in one corner of our bedroom, every time he see those, he will smile right away and sometimes giggle, oh its just so cute, with those sweet smile he takes my breath away, it truly makes my day no matter how tired i am. Time go by so fast, everyday there's always new with him, oh speaking of new, a week ago he just started to watch tv, since he's amused with faces now, he just love watching images that shown on tv.

Having a baby is really tiring, they always said that your life will change....oh yeah! totally, up side down hehe....but the joy he brought us is unimaginable, its like he is the meaning why we are here, life is more colorful and very challenging even though its superrrrr exhausting job....but i love it, and i sure wanna do it again.

Douglas at 10 1/2 weeks

boy oh boy! time fly so fast and babies growing alot faster than i thought. At this time, just saying a word "hello" to our bundle of joy, he is staring and smiling back at us. With that sweet toothless smile and pretty eyes truly melted our hearts. He is trying to imitate the word hello now by just saying "ow"...gosh its just so cute! He is more responsive and looking at colorful things around him now, he loves playing with his hands and sucking it too. I remember a month ago he was so cranky and fussy and wants to be carried or hold him most of the time, we used to call him Mr. instant gratification because when he is hungry or has wet diaper or just want me to hold him, he wants it right away, he will cry out loud if we wont be there and meet his needs right away....now, i'm just so glad that he changed, he loves his swing and sleeps mostly for almost whole day now. I can have a nnice bath and can clean and do some stuff around the house too. I'm trying to take photos and videos of him as much as possible every week, babies grow fast, infancy is just a short time, i wanna capture and treasure every moments of my little one's developmental milestone.

Now, mommy is the world, next time mommy will be ignored, so i try to enjoy every moment with Douglas everyday.

my little bundle of joy...

Douglas at 2 months old

I remember his first smile when he was at 6 weeks old, it brought tears into my eyes. The first time he smiled, all the sleepless nights and tiring days of feeding, changing diapers and dealing with tantrums are all worth it.

At 2 months, my heart melts every time my son stared and smiled at me. I always thank God for giving me this wonderful gift, my son, my precious one, that i could never ask for more....

I love you Douglas!

my life's little miracle...

6 weeks ago i gave birth to a healthy 7.8 lbs. baby boy. We named him after my husband's father and my dad. He is truly my miracle.

Before i gave birth to my little one, i can say i struggled for a bit. Since i have gestational diabetes, i was induced a day before it reaches 41 weeks (well, my baby was over baked hehe..). I was in labor for 24 hours with prostaglandin, a vaginal gel inserted through birth canal. During early part of my labor they gave me morphine just to alleviate the pain but it makes me so dizzy and the sad part was after several hours, my labor did not progress, my cervix was just dilated 1 cm. So we waited for 8 hours to continue my induction. the next morning around 6 am they gave me oxytocin just so to increase the momentum of my labor. Within 5 hours i had nitrous oxide through mask oxygen inhalation as a pain reliever, when my labor peaks up and i'm in agony thats the time i inhaled the gas and the effect was just a matter of minutes, and when you ask about the side effect? boy oh boy it was unpleasant, i got dizzy and everytime i inhaled it i am hallucinating, that i heard voices, a man counting numbers and a woman talking but i dont understand it...hmmmm...am i just my imagining or what?....thats why some people use it as a recreational drugs as it causes euphoria, sedated, dreamy and imaginative....hmmmm...so much to that..lets move on....after around 5 hours of my labor, my amniotic sac broke, there was gush of water and lots of it, i was alittle bit ashamed as it was messy on the floor, the doctor said towards the end of my pregnancy i accumulated a lot of water. The pain was intensified, oh goodness! the pain was unbearable, thank God they've given me epidural. Here comes the sad part again, my cervix was still dilated at 1 cm, the doctor checked again and told me that i was incapable of giving birth vaginally, that my cervix is too small for the baby, so we decided to go on cesarean, prior to my operation, the anesthesiologist given me anesthesia and my OB prepared me physically and psychologically, and again, i waited for 2 hours as the OR is busy, thank God my baby is doing ok.

On the 21st of February at exactly 3 pm, Douglas Celedonio Whitney was born.

Here comes complication again, after the operation, my blood pressure spiked up, i was in magnesium sulfate and was closely watched by nurses at the ICU, my blood pressure was 160/146 mm Hg, and that i am close to seizure. i remember they hooked me up with oxygen and every 15 to 30 minutes my blood pressure was checked round the clock for 24 hours. And for my little angel? they test his blood and found out that his white blood cell count was alittle bit high, so he was sent to the NICU and was on antibiotics for 5 days. The doctor assured us that there was nothing wrong with our little angel, maybe during the labor my temperature was alittle bit elevated that causes his white blood cell count slightly high, the doctor just wanted to make sure that he is totally healthy so they've given him antibiotics.

But once you saw your baby, all the pains are worth it! For me, i cried but this time its for the happiness i felt in my heart.

Life is so precious, sometimes you never know that your life is in danger, so we have to be ready all the time. Now that i experienced the pain during labor and taking care of my little one, i appreciate my mother more and to all the mothers out there, it wasnt easy, there are some who's life is in 50-50 chances in giving birth, and not to mention with those sleepless nights and tiring days in taking care of the babies too. I'm so proud of my mother and the mothers out there who's having multiples, gosh how can they do it, its super hard for sure, wow i just cant imagine how hard it is. For my mama and to my papa, I love you...thank you so much for taking care of us (me and my twin sis), for loving and guiding us for who we are right now....having 5 kids including 1 set of twins must be so hard, now its pay back time hehe, my turn to take care of my baby, just hoping and praying that i will raise him the way you raised us, your kids. Love you once again.

my awful experiences during pregnancy....

I've been away from this site almost 4 months now, not just because i was lazy to post my thoughts about pregnancy, its just that i lost interest when i had my glucose test around 28 months of my pregnancy and found out that i had gestational diabetes. I was so shocked, i asked my doctor (my GP) and my OB why i got it as no one or nothing in my family history that had diabetes. For me, its like end of the world, thinking that i will suffer diabetes (might be) for the rest of my life, i'll be doomed then. But my doctor and my OB assured me that it was just hormonal changes and it doesnt mean that i will have it after the pregnancy (oh God forbid).

For 13 weeks i was in a special diet, no carbo no sugar, just higher intake of protein and fiber and alot of exercise. Oh it was really difficult; as the due date is getting closer, my tummy is getting bigger and heavier that it was difficult to exercise as my back is really killing me and my ankle and knees are really hurting that sometimes i wanted to give up. For 7 weeks i was in an insulin shot once a day every night through injection and do some poking to extract a small amount of blood in my fingers 7 times a day to test my blood sugar if its high or not.

I remember when i reached 39 weeks i asked my doctor to induce me as i wanted it to be over and done with, i got tired of all the aches and pain and the heaviness of my tummy and not to mention my awful diet and injections that i gone through everyday... but my baby has another plan, he wants to stay a couple of weeks more, the ob cant induce me as my cervix wasn't started to effaced and dilated yet, its risky to my baby, so i have to wait again.....i'm just so thankful with my husband, my cousin Gina and my friends who always there for me, guiding and advising me all throughout my pregnancy....this is my choice, so i have to endure all...thats why i call my baby my miracle as i prayed and asked him from God.....after i gave birth, i just realized that the sacrifices i did is just the beginning.......but happy and proud embracing the motherhood......welcome to this world my precious one! I love you so much!