Milk

When I was pregnant, I swore to myself that I will exclusively breastfeed my baby. No formula for him for the next 3 months! Well, I thought wrong.

A few hours after I gave birth, the baby was brought to me to breastfeed. I immediately brought him to my breast and thought that was it. But Basti wouldn't latch. We continued on for several tries but to no avail until his cries finally unnerved me. I broke down and asked the pedia to prescribe formula for him.

For two weeks, until we got home, I could only count the number of times that I was able to successfully breastfeed my baby. It has become a stressful time for the both of us as he would cry when he couldn't latch and I would cry with him feeling that I failed him somehow. We became dependent on the formula to feed him and seldom breastfed him as much as I wanted. I pumped milk from my breasts but I only do it so often as it was so tedious and I can't get enough milk as I would want from my manual pump.

However, this changed when he caught a cold on his 3rd week. It was too soon for him to get sick and this was because he did not have enough of my anti-bodies to fight off the germs. Thankfully, the pedia did not prescribe any antibiotics yet. I hunkered down, researched tips on breastfeeding over the web and steeled my resolve to breastfeed my son and I won't let his cries affect me.

Thank God my husband has been so supportive through the whole thing. After a few tries, my baby and I found the right positions for him to latch and breastfeed comfortably. We still mix feed but I ensure to give him as much of my milk as I can. After a week of breastfeeding, his cold was gone and we could breathe a sigh of relief.

I still continue to breastfeed him and I'll continue to do so as much as I can. Just last week, we learned to breastfeed while lying down and we were both happy with that. I didn't have to strain my injured wrist further.

I'll be returning to work in three weeks and hopefully, I'll be able to express some milk even with my hectic and busy schedule at work.

Picture taken from http://sayyestobreastfeeding.com/

The Little Things

My husband and I have been married for barely two years and had a baby just a couple of months ago but I could say that we're still IN love. But first, let us keep love in the context that my husband and I know it to be.

People have different definitions of love. Just watch television and you'll no doubt see that love has been commercialized to be loud with grand sweeping gestures proclaiming the guy's "love" to the whole world. Love is supposedly roses, dates in posh places, diamond rings and expensive gifts. It's proposing your love in a field of roses or across a building with your lady love peering out and looking at your row of placard hearts. I'm not saying that these things are wrong. In fact, my husband gave me roses, had dates at posh places, gave me a diamond engagement ring (an heirloom at that) and got my own share of expensive gifts. But we don't credit those things for keeping our love alive.

When I was pregnant, he really took care of me. He held me during the worst of my morning sickness and catered to my every whim without complaint. He willingly arranged his schedule just to accommodate my requests (that's not a small thing for him. My husband is a creature of habit and sticks to his schedule as much as possible). He gave me back rubs and accompanied me to my monthly OB visits and attended childbirth classes with me.

When I gave birth, he got up with me during the 2AM feedings and most of the time, he would just tell me to sleep and he'll handle the baby himself (but we only survived like this for 2 to 3 weeks until we called in the big guns--our heavensent yaya!). When I was having chills in the middle of the night, he would wake up and wrap me in his arms until the shivering subsided or I fell asleep. He took me out at least once a week to have lunch outside.

Its the little and constant things that have kept our love alive. It's knowing that my husband is always there for me and our son. The "romantic" gestures have subsided but the love still remained.

When Subtitles Go Wrong - Touch My Barreh!

Somebody please give this guy the correct lyrics.

Basti's visit to Dita - 22Mar09

Basti visited his Lolo Rene at Dita

Basti's Baptism

March 15, 2009 at St. James. Reception followed here at home.
We only have 2 pairs of Godparents
Godfathers: Christopher Paraiso (my brother-in-law) and Allan Chua (my college friend)
Godmothers: Cheryll Hermosura (my sister) and Cessna Papas (another college friend;was not present as her son had fever that day)
Some of the pictures are from my Father-in-law's camera (yung may date sa baba).

The Pied Pier of Wowowee

I've never been a watcher of noontime variety shows. Even when I was previously on vacation, I never watch any local show in ABS-CBN or GMA. I'd prefer to watch other shows or pop in a DVD. However, I found myself being mysteriously seduced by the drawing power of Willie Revillame and his Wowowee show.

I tried to avoid it at first but there are times that my MIL would be at home and invite me and Basti to stay in their air-conditioned room in the afternoon. She and my FIL would be watching Willie's show and I have no choice but to watch it as well. My yaya is also watches it as well. Next thing I knew, I found myself tuning in to Channel 2 to watch Willie the Pied Piper at work.

One of the popular segments of the show is (if I'm correct) is Willie of Fortune. The game starts with 8 contestants. One is pitted against the other in a segment wherein they have to name the tune being played. They get one point if they get it right and another point if they sing the lyrics right. They do this again until they're down to 4 contestants and they until they have one winner. At the start of the segment, Willie interviews them one by one and these people would willingly share their life story with him. They would usually have a companion with them and Willie encourages them to say some words to each other (usually sappy stuff) and after each interview, they have to either sing, dance, declaim or show whatever talent they have. After that, Willie gives them P5K each. If they're exceptionally talented, he gives them P10K.

Not anyone can play in this segment. They usually have themes for the day. For the past days that I've been watching, they had "parents of children who are studying law or medicine", "senior citizen singers" and today "teenage parents". I witnessed a male contestant who got married early, his wife recently gave birth through caesarian session and he still owes people P20K for his wife's operation. Did I mention he does not have any job? After his talent portion, Willie immediately gave him P20K AND some of the audience members went down and gave him dollars (they have visiting TFC subscribers in the TV audience).

I'm just amazed how popular this show is and how "powerful" Willie has become. You just have to watch it to believe.

Actually, I surprisingly like the show. I'm a sucker of back stories and the stories of the people who play in the program can really make your heart bleed. I just wish they would do away with the scantilly clad dancers who gyrate like there's no tomorrow. And theirritating voices of some of the hosts who plug the sponsor's products. They really grate my ears.

(Logo picture taken from Wikipedia)

2008 W@W Wedding Supplier of the Year - CECILIO ABAD!!!

FINALLY! After being nominated several times, my wedding gown couturier, CECILIO ABAD  won W@W Wedding Supplier of the Year!!! I'm very very happy for him. He deserves this honor after the beautiful gown that he made for me and for my entourage.

He beat other deserving wedding suppliers, one of them was even Raymund Fortun (yes, the lawyer!) but Cecile was definitely the best among the lot. Here's the link for the complete list of nominees: http://www.weddingsatwork.com/wawnewsblog/2009/02/18/ww-reveals-its-top-10-wedding-suppliers-for-2008/

Though the award is given annually, what made the award more special was it was given on W@W's 10th anniversary.

W@W stands for Weddings at Work. It's an online community of people planning for their weddings. I used to be a member when I was planning for our wedding and it's definitely worth it.

So those who are planning to get married, get Cecilio to do your gown. You will not be sorry.

Leo's Birthday

Start:

Apr 7, '09

What should I get him this year???

Overdrive

FINALLY! I get to practice my driving.

For the past 2 weeks, I've been driving around Alabang. At first, it started by taking one of the cars to church everyday. I then graduated to taking the car out of the village and around Alabang. I practiced my reverse parking and basically handling the car.

Today, I drove going to Makati. I braved the northbound awful SLEX traffic (Phase 2 of the Skyway construction is being started. They're extending the Skyway from Bicutan to Alabang. Oh God. It's going to be heavy traffic for the next 2 years. Huhuhuhu) and made the trip in an hour. And yes, I drove without a companion. I drove ALL BY MYSELF. I'm so proud!!! Since I'm more confident with my driving, I drove with the Eraserheads' CIRCUS album playing in the radio and with me singing along. Hehe.

Leo and I agreed that once I return to work, I'll take the car 2-3 times a week. The rest of the week, I'll just take the shuttle. I won't mind as I would want to catch up with my sleep.

Pretty soon I'll be driving around Manila and maybe even farther. Hah!

Basti Smiling

Here's our effort of trying to make Basti smile. He's SOOOO adorable!

Our Smiling Future Lasallista

Basti can now smile and laugh (although no sound). Here he is posing with his Future Lasalista onesie (thank you Tubby Tees!).

We managed to capture some of his smiling (and laughing) faces. He's just so adorable.

de Quervain's tenosynovitis

My baby is less than 5 kilos (as of last week) and I'm feeling his weight.

I was diagnosed with de Quervain's tenosynovitis yesterday after I went to an ortho specialist and complained of a pain on the inside of my right wrist. Handling Basti can be quite painful now and it's frustrating me.

Since I'm breastfeeding, the ortho and rehab medicine specialists did not prescribe any medicine for me. I'll be going to therapy 3x/week to help relieve the pain. After 6 sessions if my wrist will still not improve, I'll be taking medications or cortisone will be injected into my wrist and if worse comes to worse, surgery (aaarggghh!!!).

Thanks to Wikepedia for the photo.

More Sebastian Pictures

We're so lazy taking pictures of our son. I mean, we do take pictures but it's really a point and click thing and uploading them really takes awhile (my laptop is SOOO slow! Naghahanap na ng kapalit).

When we visited my dad at Makati today, he took LOTS of pictures. He took more pictures than we ever could do in a month! And really good quality too. You can actually see his face and his expressions. Hehe.

So, please out check pictures of my son in my Dad's site:

http://rtdavid.multiply.com/photos/album/119/The_many_faces_of_Basti

Enjoy and tell me who he looks like :)

U2's Top 10 List on Letterman

On a happier note, I stumbled upon this clip when I saw it on E! (or was that the Daily Top 10?). It's hilarious especially #10 and #5 (was that a Freudian Slip or was The Edge really mocking his fellow one-name rock star? What do you think?)

RIP Mr FrancisM (1964-2009)

Basti's yaya and I were watching Wowowee (well, I was half-watching as I was finishing my cross-stitch piece) when Willie Revillame broke the sad news and asked for one minute of silence. I forgot my stitches as I looked at the TV shell-shocked. I was very much surprised as based on the news reports, he was on the mend from his leukemia treatment and I didn't even know he was in the hospital (when you're at home with nothing to do while your baby sleeps except watch TV, cross-stitch and surf the net, you can pick up a lot of things).

I immediately switched the channel to Eat Bulaga (where he used to be a regular co-host) but it seems it was Vic Sotto who announced the news first. I turned on my laptop to reconfirm the news and get more details and pep.ph and abs-cbn news also confirmed it. Francis Magalona succumbed to pneumonia. He's 44 and survived by his wife Pia and their 8 children.

Most of the Philippine's blogworld must be posting about this right now and I will surely add my thoughts.

Mr FrancisM was part of my growing-up years. I remember seeing him at Bagets 2 and his songs made me proud to be a Filipino. Which Filipino or even Fil-Am does not know the legendary song/rap "Mga Kababayan"? I was in High School when his "Cold Summer Nights" song came out and I remember memorizing that song including the rap parts (it's been cold summer nights girl I really miss you rock my world wanna touch you and kiss me it's my fault i never called you at home i'm on the phone wishing you could call i'm all alone--see! and i did not even have to search the lyrics over the internet...well probably just the last part. hehehe!) And his "Kaleidescope World" song has a very good message and is somehow an anthem of the Filipino youth.

I also remember watching him in MTV Asia when he was a VJ there (I believe he was their first VJ) and he can really connect to his audience. Sadly, I was not able to watch him much in Eat Bulaga but I remember him more for his music. I can still remember when he sang with Parokya ni Edgar in one of their Inuman Session numbers (I believe the song/rap was The Yes Yes Show) and who could forget Bagsakan with Gloc9?

Francis Magalona's legacy is that he is VERY proud to be a Filipino. If he doesn't rap or sing about it, he wears it. Yes, he owns a shirt company which features the Filipino flag or design. It's something that a Fil-Am would buy and bring home to the States. I have a lot of Fil-Am friends and relatives who would want shirts which proudly proclaims "I'm from the Philippines" and his shirts definitely do that. I'll definitely go to Festival Mall tomorrow and buy one of his shirts (it's in the 4th level beside the Jollibee store near the cinemas).

Rest in Peace Mr FrancisM. You made me proud to be a Filipino. Something that our leaders have failed to do.

American Idol Season 8 Top 9

Predictably, Lil Rounds and Scott Macintyre advanced today and Jorge Nunez as well. The judges also picked (2 each) people who will sing tomorrow to find out who will take the last 3 spots and horror of horrors, Randy picked Tatiana! (WTF!!!).

I also saw a clip of Group 3's group song where they sang Katy Perry's Hot and Cold. Leo and I were wondering how they will do the choreography as Scott's visually challenged.

Click here to find out OR just watch tonight's American Idol's telecast over Star World or QTV11.

The Pacifier

I've always had this aversion to pacifiers. I can't remember why. When a friend gifted my son a pacifier, I just politely smiled and when she left, I put it aside with no intention whatsoever of using it.

When our yaya went for her monthly day-off yesterday (it was her birthday last Saturday and she returns today), Leo and I were left to take care of Basti. I don't mind as it's the time that we can bond with our son. However, by mid-afternoon we were both edgy as the baby hasn't slept the whole day. He would take naps but each nap would only last 30 minutes the most. A far cry from his usual 2-3 hour naps. We nervously took him to church with us and I was thankful that he slept most of the time.

We did our usual night time routine for the baby and he would sleep after the feeding but he would wake up 30 minutes after. By 9PM, Leo and I agreed that I would take the first watch and he'll take the second--this in case the baby would not settle. We we're praying that he would sleep as he hasn't slept the whole day. However, we read in the baby book that an over-tired baby would have difficulty falling asleep.

While Leo was sleeping, I breastfed Basti and watched as he was lulled off to sleep. I laid him on my chest while I slowly lied down on the bed. I told myself that if he would sleep like this for an hour then I'll put him on his crib and thank God that he did! While the baby slept, Leo got up and persuaded me to use the pacifier. In the whole day that we've been taking care of Basti, he noticed that the bottle lulls him to sleep and he ends up not drinking the formula. I reluctantly agreed after he listed down the pros and cons that he found over the net with the pros outweighing the cons.

I'm glad I agreed to it as Basti slept for 3 hours straight last night only to wake up for feeding, and he's still asleep until now after a 530AM feeding. I don't know if the pacifier really did the trick but I would try it again if it would mean calming him down.

Now, if I can just remember why I don't like it in the first place.