When I posted my Mommy Moments’ entry last Friday, I mentioned in my post that my four-year-old son (soon turning five) is such a sweet and thoughtful boy. Because I work at home and see what he’s doing all day after school, I’m the willing recipient of his hugs, kisses and I Love You’s.

From time to time, he would approach me and tell me: “Mommy, hug me and kiss me.” Of course, I would oblige. Then, he’ll hug and kiss me, too! He also says so many “I love you, Mommy” in a day! These things really make my heart melt!

And when he’s in the mood to write, he’d come up with “I Love You” notes for Mommy. Where he writes his love notes doesn’t really matter; sometimes, he writes on cardboard paper, sometimes in my notebook that I use when I work and sometimes on pad papers.

This was his Valentine’s Day card for mommy. He was in a hurry to do this because he wanted to give it to me right away. He asked his yaya for the spelling of “Happy Valentine’s Day.”


He actually writes nicely when he’s in the mood, like this most recent love note he gave me.


Isn’t he the sweetest? Now that I’ve just received my end-of-the-month salary, I want to buy something special for him. Would personalized gifts for kids do? What do you think?

Last Sunday afternoon, we decided to go to Ayala Triangle Park, instead of a mall, to see what this newly renovated land park has to offer.






Our four-year-old son was raring to run, play and explore the park, but it started raining, and we had no other option but to get inside one of the dining places there to take shelter and of course, to try their house specialty. Because hubby heard a great deal about Bon Chon Chicken, we decided to try that first. I’ll have a separate post on that in the coming days.

It was still raining after we’ve eaten, so we had to abruptly end our very short stay at Ayala Triangle Park to go to Glorietta Mall instead. The little boy’s spirit was dampened, and so we had to find a way to bring the smile back to his now grouchy face.

To our surprise, the children’s playground at the Glorietta Activity Center was not there anymore. It’s a good thing that there’s a fun activity for kids that day—the big animal ride. A three-minute ride on these animals cost Php20.00; at Robinsons Galleria, the price is only Php10.00 per ride. I wonder if location has something to do with the price variance.






Is my little boy happy now? What do you think?

Let me start 2011 with a list of things I’m thankful for in the past year. I never expected 2010 to be a better year than 2009 in terms of finances, but it was. I remember in 2009, I had to ask my bosses to give me half of my 13th month pay middle of that year because we simply had so many expenses with the little boy then on his second year of preschool and my husband still paying for our 1-bedroom condo unit here in Ortigas. Honestly, I’m not able to help much in our family expenses because a huge part of my monthly salary goes to my parents’ medications, and I’m glad that my husband understands.

Without further ado, here’s a list of things I’m grateful for in 2010:

1. I attended more blog events last year and met wonderful people and friends in the process.
2. My blog got approved by PayU2Blog which gave multiple writing tasks regularly. That meant extra income for me.
3. My son graduated from Nursery and became a Pre-Kindergartner last year.
4. Pensive Thoughts had a blog makeover courtesy of Kaye.
5. I became part of BC Bloggers and Mommy Bloggers Club.
6. My mother underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) in June. We never thought we’d be able to pay for her surgery, but we did through the help of friends and the loan my husband took out from his office.
7. Justin’s photo was seen on the NIDO 3+ See the Difference Billboard Photos near Boni Avenue and at SM North Edsa last September 15 to 17, 2010.
8. We were able to buy a new laptop that my husband and my son now share. I have the old HP laptop all to myself.
9. My bosses gave me a salary increase during the last quarter of 2010.
10. We were able to visit Boracay for the very first time in November 2010.
11. I attended my first ever Mommy Bloggers’ Christmas Party last year.
12. We had a great Christmas celebration with my family on December 25, 2010.

Overall, 2010 has been a good year for us, and we hope 2011 would be even better.

How about you? What are you thankful for in 2010?

I got the surprise of my life today when we arrived at my parents’ place in Dasmariñas, Cavite. Since my younger sister moved there, a lot of things have changed. The house underwent major renovation. The living area was extended, the cooking and washing areas have been moved to different places, and there are new furniture items inside the house. Everything looked great; not a single hinge spring needs to be replaced, although interior painting is not finished yet. They now have a WOW Magic Sing, too, that I really love! Believe me if I tell you I spent more than 2 hours singing my heart out. Belting out nonstop melted all my stress away! Even my son had a grand time singing with Mommy.


Are you now convinced that Mommy and son are having a great time?

I wanted my son to have a new haircut before Christmas, so after meeting Joy Mendiola at Robinsons Galleria yesterday, off we went to my son and his Dad’s favorite barber. So I could tick off this mommy duty on my to-do list yesterday, I just made a mental note to do my research on life insurance rate later.

Justin was cooperative throughout the entire session, but he had one condition: no hair clippers on him. A hair clipper is a mechanical or electric tool for cutting hair. He simply hates the buzzing sound of the hair clipper. Quite naturally because I brought our camera along, I had to take before and after shots of my son to capture his transformation.


Before


Almost done!


So, does he look better with his new haircut?

My son and I took a quick trip to Robinsons Galleria yesterday noon to see Joy Mendiola and give her my Christmas gift, to take my son to the barbershop to have his hair trimmed and to treat my son to Tom’s World; he hasn’t played there in a long while.

On our way to the barbershop, my son stopped dead in his tracks, seemingly afraid of something. He sat on the floor with his left hand touching the ground for support, and I couldn’t make him leave his spot. Nope, there weren’t band saw blades lying on the floor that scared the wits out of him.

He was actually afraid of the glass panels that serve as dividers at the mall. Because the glass panels were transparent, he actually thought there was nothing there, and he was afraid that he might fall down if he gets near these “invisible” glass panels.

I tried to make him touch the glass panels so he could see for himself that there was nothing to be afraid of, but he wouldn’t budge. I had no choice but to proceed to our destination at once, so he could forget about the whole thing.

After he’s had his hair cut, we passed by the same glass panels again. I took the liberty to take pictures of the things he feared and compared it to the ones the mall planned to replace. They’re still not finished changing everything inside the mall.


Glass panels


Metal grilles
Now, which do you think is safer for children: the glass panels or the metal grilles?

It’s only 23 days until Christmas, but I still haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet. Thanks to an entrepreneur friend who recently joined a bazaar because she makes things easier for me. She supplies me with gift items that I really don’t have time to buy on my own anymore. It was only last night that I started wrapping gifts, and that’s not even the half of it.

I have two get-togethers this week. This Friday, I’ll have a lunch date with friends in Makati, most of whom are my son’s grandparents. On Saturday, I’ll meet up with my high school classmates at SM Mall of Asia.

I wish I could squeeze in time for a diamond peel facial, as well as whitehead and blackhead removal, today. Stress at work has taken a toll on my skin, and it badly needs pampering. The last thing I’d like to hear my friends say is I’m looking old. Waah!

Well, if there's a will, there's a way, right? Because it’s hubby’s birthday today, I’ll just do my administrative tasks, skip my production work, and get ready to go out later with our son. And yes, I won’t forget to visit a beauty salon later.

There’s not much to do on our third day in Boracay because we’re supposed to be picked up from Boracay Regency at 10am. We just had our complimentary buffet breakfast and spent the remaining hours taking pictures.
















We did not bother to buy items from the souvenir shops anymore because they're so expensive. Hence, we were not able to see if there were cigar humidors available for their guests who smoke.


Hubby bought me an advanced birthday present, though, and I’m still thinking if I’m going to write a post about it. And because there are people asking, I’ll be writing about the PALakbayan vacation package that we availed for our trip and the hotel that we stayed in for 3 days and 2 nights in Boracay.

It was raining hard when we woke up on our Day 2 in Boracay. We decided to wait for the rain to stop before heading to the beach. We went to the Seabreeze Café first to have our complimentary buffet breakfast. You can tell from the picture below that I had a “sinful” meal that day. LOL!


Then, we were off to the beach to swim and play! Boracay Beach is at its most beautiful in the morning because you can see the powdery white sand and the crystal clear waters.








While my husband and my son were frolicking in the beach, my sister and I tried to take pictures of us doing jump shots. It was not easy, I tell you, but after so many tries, we finally did it!




We also bought hats and shades to complete our beach getups. Too bad, there wasn’t a hat for kids!


My husband and my sister also tried helmet diving where they were asked to wear a 21-kilo helmet, climb down 10 to 12 feet under the sea, feed the fish and have their pictures and videos taken. I wasn’t as brave as they were, so my son and I just waited for them at the helmet diving platform.




We had no more energy to go somewhere else to have lunch so we decided to dine in again at Seabreeze Café and just ordered Calamares and Filipino Beef Steak.


Then, it was swimming time again! After we’re done swimming, we decided to have dinner at Gazebo Grill and had grilled chicken and grilled squid that went well with their complimentary dessert of mango crepe. The mango crepe was yummy! We didn’t manage to take a picture of this, however.


We settled down for the night in our hotel room early because we barely slept on our first night here in Boracay because of too much excitement. It’s also because of the same reason that I forgot a few things when I packed our bags. I forgot to bring mens vitamins for hubby and a digital thermometer for my son. Since they’re both doing okay, I guess all is well!

It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes from NAIA Terminal 2, Philippine Air Lines (PAL) Domestic, to get to our destination, Boracay Regency Beach Resort and Convention Center (Boracay Regency). This is actually an unplanned vacation. It just came out of the blue. My husband and I even fought about it because this weekend getaway was ill-timed. The truth is I am swamped with work and just a day of absence from work will result in significant backlog that I will have to make up when our vacation is over.

But we soon got over our petty quarrel, and so here we are breathing in the beauty of Boracay for the very first time. My husband and I are both busy bodies. However, this time around, we decided to give ourselves a much-needed break.

We were early at NAIA Terminal 2, 6am to be exact. Our flight was at 9am, but it was delayed because according to the stewardess, the ramp was busy. This was our son’s first time to ride a plane, and he was so amazed, excited and happy. Only when he felt lightheaded after eating peanuts did he stop being so hyper and fell asleep in my arms.












By the time we arrived at the hotel (2:30pm), we were already famished, and I bet you, we ate lunch like we did not know each other. In other words “galit-galit” (we’re at war). LOL! We finished everything we ordered (lechon kawali and pinakbet) in no time!


By 4pm, my son was already at the beach with his Dad while my sister and I had our own photo shoot nearby. Never mind if I forgot to bring an anti wrinkle cream. What matters is we're here in Boracay and we'd do as we please.














Then, after swimming, we decided to walk the long stretch of powdery white sand beach to find a really nice but affordable place to eat. We ended up dining at Bugs Grill because we noticed they have a very long queue of hungry customers, so the place must be good. We loved their shrimps, grilled clams and oysters, kare-kare and fruit salad. Because it’s an eat-all-you-can restaurant, I totally forgot about my low-cholesterol, low-rice diet today. LOL!




After eating, the little boy was already sleepy, and hubby volunteered to accompany my son to our hotel room so he could watch TV, too. Meanwhile, my sister and I watched a live performance of fire dancers and a slow rock band. I never thought I’d enjoy the show but I did. As a matter of fact, we stayed watching these performers for 2 hours.




It’s already past 2am as I write this post. I’ll tell you about our Day 2 in Boracay tomorrow.