Yaya's Day Off

Our yaya is entitled to a day off once a month. For this month, she took it last night and returned this evening.

Though the day-off is part of our agreement, there's a silent part of me that wants to beg her to stay. Basti is a handful already. You cannot take your eyes off him as he'll be destroying something. His bedroom is Basti-proof but unfortunately, not the rest of the house. But I figured it will be a nice bonding experience for us.

Last night, I wanted to cry when after two hours, Basti didn't want to sleep and he was growing cranky by the minute. My usual tricks doesn't seem to work and makes his crankiness worse. I felt so helpless last night and was so depressed afterwards. I so envy my friends who have developed some sort of bond with their kids that putting them to sleep won't drain their blood as what happened to me and Basti last night.

I questioned our sleeping arrangement (he sleeps in his own bed and room with his yaya) and whether he should sleep with us or not. In the end, he fell asleep cradled in my arms while dancing around the room. He would wake up and start crying whenever I would sit down on the rocking chair or on the bed. My arms were crying out for mercy and I was so thankful when he finally slept.

However, he woke up at midnight crying again and I could not console him. He struggled to be let down and slid down to the pull-out bed where he immediately fell asleep. I slept after that only to wake up at 430 AM for his milk feeding. He slept after finishing 7oz only to wake me up a couple of hours later as he slid down from the bed.

We went downstairs for breakfast and I gave him a bowl of rice and egg where he fed himself (he wants to use the utensils and doesn't like it if we feed him). The food ended up half on the floor, on his clothes and chair and hopefully, the rest in his tummy.

Kindermusik this morning was bearable because Leo did most of the chasing. Lunch was the same as breakfast (with half of the food again on the floor etc). Thankfully, he fell asleep without not much fuss for his afternoon nap (Oddly enough, I just talked to him and begged him to just sleep without the dancing and rocking because I was exhausted and my arms could not take another round of that. He seemed to understand me as he just fell asleep on the bed cuddled beside me).

While reflecting on my exhausting day, I really admire the moms out there who survive without a helper. My sister who is based in the US, is one such person. Now I understand why mothers really are very affected when their children do something to hurt them.

I hope I can find more ways to bond with my son. I might have to change the house rules a bit so I can have more time with him.

My Take on the GulfAir Baby

I'm having mixed feelings about the woman who threw her newborn baby in the trash bin of an airplane. It's an absolute miracle that the baby is alive and no doubt, God has big plans for him to survive such odds and I am looking forward to knowing his future.

I've been reading in different parenting fora how most of the posters basically condemned the woman (one of the posters even mentioned that she cannot call the woman "mother") for abandoning her child in such a way. I initially reacted the way they did. Being a mother myself and seeing how helpless my son was back then, my heart bled when I read the way the baby was just disposed in the trash. I've already stopped thinking how a person can do such a thing because of the news that I've been reading lately, I can already surmise that humans are capable of things that we used to only read about and is now part of our unfortunate reality. Somehow the world has evolved from bad to worse.

But I digress, humans are capable of awful things especially when their mind is stressed. I guess this somehow proves the adage mind over matter.

Amazingly, one of the voices of reason came from Ramon Tulfo. I was so used to his acerbic and biting words that compassion coming from him sounds a bit different. His columns lately were mostly about forgiveness which was a big deviation from his earlier columns--not necessarily a bad thing. His column reminds me of the Bible saying, "he who has no sin cast the first stone." My heart still cannot fathom the barbarous act (reminds me of a video that I saw of a woman throwing puppies in the river) and I don't know if I'll be strong enough not to judge her for what she has done.

I guess I will just have to remember Jesus' example of forgiving those who have done Him wrong and suffering for our sins. Perhaps compassion is the first thing we should give this woman. Though I cannot justify what she has done, I just hope that there will be a happy ending for all of her, and the baby's trials.

Gypsy by Shakira

I was fanning myself after watching this video.

Shakira with Rafael Nadal can surely heat up a room. Whew.

Eye Candy!

Pacific Rims by Rafe Bartholomew

It has been a long time since I watched basketball. I was an avid fan when I was in first year high school when I rooted for Ginebra/Anejo and worshiped Jojo Lastimosa and Samboy Lim (to be honest, I worshiped them for their cuteness. hehe). But I somehow outgrew it when I went to college. The only time I watch basketball games was when we were required to by our PE subject.

My husband is an avid fan of the sport and knows stats and player names. He can hold his own on a discussion regarding basketball. Over the dinner table, he and my father-in-law would talk about the latest game or who got traded to where (NBA and PBA). My husband even subscribed to Destiny Cable (even if we're already existing Skycable subscribers) because of their Balls channel where he can watch all the Basketball he wants.

When he bought Pacific Rims, I just shrugged that it must be another basketball book. When he learned that the author, Rafe Bartholomew, will be in town to have a book signing, he asked me to go (he was in Europe during the last week of August). Unfortunately, my schedule was a bit iffy so I was not able to go to either Powerbooks or Fully Booked which hosted the signings.

However, I got curious about the book when he would read it and bed and suddenly, the bed will be shaking because of his laughter. He would laugh over something in the book and when I would ask, he would just shrug because he knows he would have to explain the whole thing for me to get it--and he was enjoying the book to much to take a break.

During a lull here at home, I saw the book lying around and out of boredom, read the first chapter--and I was hooked. My high school love for the game suddenly resurfaced and I devoured every word of the book. I'm already halfway through and I've laughed so much already. Rafe certainly has a way with words.

Now, I'm sorry that I was not able to meet him in person and shake his hand (and maybe have a picture with him. He is cute. Hehe). As an avid and voracious reader, I never thought that I would be reading about basketball but somehow, Rafe wrote about it to make it easy to read and appreciate the sport--and our people--more.

When he was here a couple of weeks ago (he actually lived here for 3 years to do the book and speaks amazingly fluent tagalog), a couple of local shows did a segment on him. The video below is from Bandila--an evening news program.

I hope he'll return someday so I can have my book..errr...my husband's book signed. I won't be able to talk bastketball with him but at least I can tell him how my interest returned because of his book.

Mabuhay ka, Rafe!

ps
He's cute too :)