I had to set aside my writing task about business card printing (full color printing, that is) yesterday morning to give way to my son’s Halloween party in school. I actually had to skip work in the morning because parents were encouraged to join their kids in school for their Halloween celebration.

I actually didn’t buy my son a new Halloween costume this year because last year, I bought two costumes, Zorro and skeleton costumes. The skeleton costume was still too big for him last year, but yesterday it fitted him perfectly.


With Mommy before going to school


Ready for trick-or-treating!


With Diego, one of his best pals in school


With his classmates inside their classroom


During their class presentation on stage


Class picture after the presentation
I went home ahead of my son and his yaya because Justin still wanted to play with his friends in school. I felt so tired when all I did was sit and take pictures of my son. Signs of aging? I hope not! LOL!

I had to wake up very early today to find pictures of me and my son that fit today’s Mommy Moments’ theme of “Before and After.” I even had to ask Chris last night what we’re supposed to talk about or post for our entries for today. I hope the following pictures will do.

At Greenbelt park when he was a baby and now that he’s four



In front of a Christmas tree when he was a baby and just recently at the mall



Wearing the same Chinese costume when he was 2 years old and 3 years old



Wearing his school shirt, Nursery and Pre-kindergarten



Click the badge above to see more Mommy Moments’ entries.

Before heading to Greenbelt Park last Saturday, we decided to stop by Almon Marina Sandwich Bar and Deli for lunch. This is one of my and my husband’s favorite dining places, but this is only the first time for our son to eat here. We ordered the following: Callos (with rice) for my husband, Carbonara (and French fries) for our son, Roast Chicken with Coleslaw for me, and a Pastalicious Combination for Justin’s yaya.


Callos, Php180.00/$4.00


Carbonara, Php170.00/$4.25


Roast Chicken with Coleslaw, Php155.00/$3.50


Pastalicious Combination: Pasta, Bolognese, Salad & Garlic Bread, Php170.00/$4.25
There was no leftover on our plates. Is that proof enough that we love to eat, or was it because we were so famished then? It was already 1pm when we had our lunch. Or did we just like what we ordered? It’s actually a combination of all three.

Oh, by the way, Michelle revealed to me her secret acne treatment, so that would be the least of my problems now. I’ll just take my sweet time doing the things I love, like eating! That’s exactly what I did! Burp!

It figured that we would have our first ever calesa ride outside Manila Ocean Park when we attended Gain School Advance’s Eye Am Smart event last October 16, 2010. That’s because we had difficulty getting a cab that day, and because it was beginning to rain, we had to get to our destination as fast as we could, regardless of the mode of transportation. According to Wikipedia, a calesa or karitela is “a horse-driven calash (carriage) used in the Philippines.”


I was the first one to go up the calesa, followed by my son and my husband. Because the calesa was wobbly, I was anxious the whole time we were riding it. It didn’t help that our calesa had to traverse a main road going to the UN Avenue LRT station. What if the calesa driver couldn’t make the horse stop when it’s supposed to stop? What if the horse went berserk in the middle of the road? What if our calesa got hit by other cars on the road? The entire ride took about 10 minutes, and we had to pay Php50.00 for it.

Have you ridden a calesa before? How did your first calesa ride go?

After my husband’s follow-up checkup with his gastroenterologist yesterday, we decided to take a stroll through Greenbelt Park.

First, there was the pond. We were content just watching the fish, turtles, and ducks swimming in the pond.


Then, my little boy wanted to get nearer the ducks in the pond, so he went down. There was a male duck resting in the grass, and he wanted so much to touch it (cuddle it even!), so he chased the poor duck, but it was too fast for my little boy.


Finally, the male duck was just within my little boy’s reach. When he was so close to touching it, he got a bit scared. Ergo, the duck evaded him again.


My son ran after the male duck one more time, but his second attempt at touching it failed again. He ended up just sitting on the grass and went home with an insect bite on his lower left leg. When I asked him why he kept on chasing the male duck, he said, “Because duck is my favorite animal, aside from cats and birds.” I said, “Okay.”

Because the little boy got tired running after his favorite animal, he dozed off the very minute he was seated comfortably inside the cab. That gave me enough time to go over a mental list of the things I need to do, which included a research on ExtenZe side effects.

Because we happened to pass by Landmark Department Store two Saturdays ago and because my husband suddenly had a craving for traditional Filipino merienda fare, we decided to have snacks at Café Via Mare. We ordered Dinuguan at Puto, Puto Bumbong and Bibingka Cassava.

It didn’t take long for us to finish our orders. I wasn’t even able to taste hubby’s dinuguan because it was gone too soon. And because it’s been years since I’ve last eaten puto bumbong, I never thought of sharing it with anyone, not even my son. LOL! Good thing, he did not like it! He preferred the bibingka cassava instead.


Dinuguan at Puto, Php175.00/$4.00


Puto Bumbong, Php65.00/$1.50


Bibingka Cassava, Php65.00/$1.50
Because I totally enjoyed what I had for a snack, I forgot to do my research on the side effects of weight loss pills when we got home. I was still lucky because my article about it was not due yet.

Café Via Mare is located at the 2nd Floor of Landmark Department Store, Ayala Center, Makati City.

There’s never a day that I don’t hug or kiss my son and vice versa. I guess that’s part of being a mom. You always want to express your love to your child, and you also want your child to express his love for you.

I hug and kiss my son when he wakes up, when I drop him off at school, when he goes home from school, when he wakes up from his afternoon nap, when he sleeps at night, and anytime I feel like it. My son is a sweet boy; he reciprocates my hugs and kisses, which makes me really happy. I like it even more when he says, “I love you, Mommy!”

I realize I hug my son automatically during picture taking. I also realize that we don’t have photos of our kissing moments. I guess because these moments are spontaneous, they happen very quickly and we’ll much prefer to savor these moments than capture them in photos.

For the sake of Mommy Moments, though, I asked my son to kiss me while his yaya takes our picture. Here’s the end product.


Happy Mommy Moments, everyone!

Click on the badge above to see more Mommy Moments’ entries.

My four-year-old son is already excited about Christmas. He already anticipates the Christmas gifts he will be receiving from us, his grandparents, his aunts and uncles, and his older cousins. I plan to make this Christmas extra special for him. Because my son loves surprises, I intend to buy him Christmas stockings. I want him to experience how it is to hang Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve and wait for the goodies that Santa Claus will give him. Should I fill his Christmas stockings with candies, chocolates or small toys? I really can’t make up my mind. Can you suggest a good place to find stocking stuffers for everyone?

Last Friday, October 15, was World Culture Day at Justin’s school. Last year, the students were asked to come to school wearing national costumes of different countries. This year, though, the children were only asked to wear a special headband with the flag of the country that the child is representing. Justin’s pre-kindergarten class could choose any country in Europe. I chose to make a Swiss flag for my son.

Aside from the flag hat, the students should also bring an item related to the country for Show & Tell. It could be an artifact or décor, costume, book, doll, delicacy, or music. The first thing that came to mind (and the easiest to find!) was Swiss chocolates, so I asked my husband to buy one for my son.


Justin with his Switzerland flag hat and his Swiss chocolate before going to school last Friday
Does he look like a bishop or what?

With only 66 days left until Christmas 2010, I’m sure many of you are already preparing your Christmas wish list and gift list. I don’t have a Christmas wish list, but I have a list of people to give presents to this Christmas. However, I don’t really have the luxury of time to hop from one shop to the next to find the perfect presents for my family and friends. Good thing, online shopping was invented. It made the lives of busy people like me a little bit easier. Like right now, I’ve just come up with an amazing gift for you boss Christmas idea. Let me see what else I can find.

Last September 11, I received an email from NIDO informing me that the photo of my four-year-old son that I submitted for the NIDO 3+ See the Difference billboard promo has passed the screening process and has been approved for entry. According to the email, my son’s photo, along with other NIDO 3+ kids, will be seen on September 15-17, 2010 for ten seconds on the following digital billboards:

EDSA Southbound (near Boni Avenue) between 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
SM North EDSA between 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Because both my husband and I had work on that day, we were not able to see Justin’s photos on the billboards mentioned. Good thing, NIDO sent us a copy of our son’s billboard photos. I wasn’t able to upload these photos on my blog earlier because I actually didn’t notice that NIDO’s most recent email had attachments. LOL!

Only when I saw Chris’ post about Toby’s appearance on the NIDO 3+ digital billboard did I remember to check my email again. True enough, the photos are there, attached in that email. Why, oh, why did I fail to notice that?

Here are the billboard photos of my son:




Thank, you , NIDO, for giving my son a chance to be in the spotlight, and thank you for making me a proud mama, too!

Last Saturday, all three of us (hubby, Justin, and me) went to Hotel H2O, Lo-ok Room (that’s inside Manila Ocean Park), Luneta, Manila to attend Eye Am Smart, a brain-vision learning experience for parents and their children aged over 3 years. The event was sponsored by Gain School Advance with the support of Mommy Academy.


Event host: Honey of QTV


Mr. Bert Valenzuela gave a talk on Vision and Brain Development in Children. Here are some things I learned from him:
- Visual and auditory senses are the first to be developed in children.
- 80% of what your child learns is acquired through vision.
- Bad eyesight can affect brain and other types of development in children.

There are also things we can do to help in our children’s brain-vision development, namely:
1. Create a learning environment at home.
2. Encourage kids to engage in educational activities and games.
3. Make communication a priority; read, play and sing to them.
4. Develop and hone other skills.
5. Get children to sleep for at least 10 hours.
6. Give children proper nutrition.

According to him, PROPER NUTRITION = Good Eyesight and Optimum Brain Development. We should avoid giving our children foods high in sugar, trans-fat, MSG and food coloring. We should give them instead fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, grains and milk. Gain School Advance is high in taurine (for vision development), choline (for memory development), and DHA, vitamins and zinc (for brain development).

Aside from the informative talk, there were also games for moms and kids and a puppet and magic show by Zam. Gain’s mascot, Rosco, was also present to entertain the kids.






They also have a brain-vision booth where parents can seek expert counseling and nutrition counseling for their children.


The big aquarium inside the Lo-ok Room was an added attraction. My son had a grand time taking pictures of the different types of marine life inside it.












Other sponsors of the event include Adarna House, Esono Corporation, Scholastic Book Fairs, Angel’s Pizza, Blow-Up Babies and Abbott International.