This blog was originally put up to document my son Justin’s developmental milestones, all for posterity’s sake. But there are other things to write about, aside from “mommyhood,” that merit my attention, and I’m including them all here. This blog now chronicles my life as a mom and wife and everything else in between.
Two Saturdays ago (June 19), my son and I went to my husband’s office’s clinic to receive our flu + h1n1 shot. Justin’s dad attended a team-building retreat that day so he wasn’t there to accompany us. Justin kept telling me that he didn’t want to go inside the doctor’s clinic, but he had no choice. I received my shot first, and when it’s his turn, he gave the female doctor a hard time injecting the vaccine because he stayed glued to the floor wailing! It took a while to pacify him. Because this vaccine was subsidized, we only paid Php438.00 per shot, so that’s Php876.00 for both of us. That’s a lot of savings! My son’s pediatrician is giving this shot for Php2,000,00.
Photo source: http://www.fotosearch.com
Our next stop was Dentista, Inc. at Shangri-la Plaza Mall for our dental prophylaxis. Contrary to last year’s visit, Justin was more at ease with Dr. G., a male dentist this time. He didn’t cry the way he did with the female dentist. Perhaps, it’s because this new dentist has his way with kids. He spoke to my son as if they’re just playing. He even asked my son hold a small mirror in front of him so he could see everything that the dentist was doing. In short, Dr. G. made the whole procedure fun for my son. As a bonus treat, he gave my son Ben 10 and Cars stickers.
It was a productive Saturday for both mommy and son. We are now protected from swine flu and cavities, too! Mission accomplished!
While lounging around SM Megamall after the she-bloggers’ meet-up last Saturday, one stall near Comic Quest and the Food Court caught my little boy’s attention. Lucky Hermits offers a wide selection of homes/shells for hermit crabs. They have painted shells proven safe for hermit crabs and nicely carved and polished natural shells.
The sales staff showcasing their ingenious and beautiful hand-painted shell for this hermit crab
The bigger hermit crabs
The smaller hermit crabs
Meet Mr. Krabs, Justin’s very own hermit crab!
Justin wasn’t too keen on touching the hermit crab at first, but he soon got over his initial fear, or so we thought. It was a different story during bedtime, though, because he keeps waking up and checking our bed for what seems to be signs of hermit crabs crawling on it. LOL! That lasted until 3am, which made him really tired when he woke up in the morning to go to school.
And how’s this for a blooper?
MOMMY All the while, I kept saying “Kermit crab,” instead of “hermit crab.” Why do I keep associating Kermit frog with hermit crab? LOL!
The she-bloggers met up at Dads, Megamall last Saturday, June 26, 2010. It just so happened that there was a chess tournament (Shell National Youth Chess Championship – NCR Leg) being held at Megamall, too, that day, and since my husband is a chess enthusiast, he went there and left Justin to my and his yaya’s care.
I intended to go up alone to meet the other bloggers who were present, but my son wouldn’t let me out of his sight and said he wanted to play. Of course, he got what he wanted, and as a consequence, I was again uberlate for this years' she-bloggers meet-up! I missed Chris because I came after she left, but I was glad to have some photo opps with the rest of the she-bloggers who attended, namely: Pehpot, Fedhz, Paula, Earth, Rossel, Nuts, Jade, and Josie.
“Veni, vidi, vici.” These are Latin words which mean “I came, I saw, I conquered.” These are the words by which Julius Caesar succinctly described one of his victories. I’m borrowing this expression to describe my son’s success with the Speed Stacks that were displayed in a booth at a mall toy store.
Last Wednesday, five days after Nanay’s first follow-up checkup post-surgery, I received a call from Tatay about Nanay’s inflamed wounds in her lower left leg. These were the two cuts in her lower left leg where some of the blood vessels that were grafted to her heart arteries during her CABG were taken. Tatay earlier called Nanay’s heart surgeon to inform him of this recent development. Dr. C. said he wanted to see Nanay right away, so we all made an urgent visit to Dr. C.’s clinic to have Nanay’s wounds checked.
Dr. C said he’s not really worried about the inflamed cuts. He simply prescribed low-dose antibiotics for 7 days and said he needed to see Nanay weekly until all of her wounds are healed. We’ll be back again to his clinic next Saturday.
We started celebrating Father’s Day 2010 early because I cooked spaghetti for hubby. We had spaghetti for breakfast and lunch.
Freshly cooked spaghetti
Because Justin and I had to buy something he needed in school, we texted his Daddy to follow us to the mall to eat out. Our restaurant of choice this time was Teriyaki Boy. Look at what we ordered:
Kani Salad (Japanese crabstick with mayo dressing on top of a cucumber slaw topped with fresh shrimp roe/Japanese caviar), Php125.00
Philly Cheese Steak Roll (Teppanyaki beef with deep-fried sweet onions topped w/flame-torched cheese served with Teriyaki Boy’s new rolls dip), Php175.00
Teriyaki Boy Chicken (Succulent grilled boneless chicken marinated and cooked with Teriyaki Boy sauce), Php195.00
Ebi Tempura (Fresh tiger prawns battered and deep-fried until crispy. Served with tempura sauce), Php260.00
Yum-yum! Sorry, folks, haven’t mastered using chopsticks yet!
Father and son hamming it up for the camera
Savoring his DQ dessert!
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This adorable little girl is Baby Bella, Mommy Rubz’s daughter. She was diagnosed with hernia, and according to her doctor, she needs to undergo surgery, which will cost approximately $1,000.
What is a hernia? A hernia is the protrusion of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it. When a hernia is not repaired, it may become strangulated. When strangulation occurs, there is a danger that part of the intestine will be caught in the hernia, cutting off blood supply to the tissue. Also, when a bowel obstruction occurs, it leads to severe pain, vomiting, nausea and inability to have a bowel movement or pass gas. Although hernia happens to boys mostly, girls can also experience it.
We can help raise the amount needed for Bella's operation by purchasing a blog review worth $10 from Mommy Rubz’s PR3 blog. The review will consist of 150 words with 2 links and an image of the header or screenshot of the blog to be reviewed.
Please send Pehpot an email (pehcats@gmail.com) with the URL of the blog you want Ruby to review and she will reply with the URL of the post and the PayPal ID where you can send the payment, and if if you are generous enough, you can even add more to the $10 price!
This is my official entry to Noel and Levy’s Thanksgiving Contest.
What Will You Do if You Win $100?
Photo source: www.diabetescondition.com
I will definitely buy Nanay a new glucometer. A glucometer is a device that measures the amount of glucose in the blood to prevent health risks for diabetics. Nanay has late-onset diabetes.
Photo source: glucerna.com
I will also make sure Nanay has enough supply of Glucerna products so she’s better able to manage her blood sugar. Not only are these products delicious, they’re also low in calories and they help diabetics get the right kinds of carbohydrates every day.
You can help me win this contest by commenting on this post or on Facebook.
When we talk about digital television, nothing beats high-definition television or HDTV. Because HDTV has a 16:9 aspect ratio, you’ll get the feeling that you have a movie theater at home! Aside from having a wider viewing area and superior sound quality, HDTV also has outstanding picture quality and resolution. That’s triple the fun, right? Truly, TV viewing has never been this good! Now, my husband is a certified TV and movie buff, so if there’s one thing I could give him that he’ll surely love, that will be an HDTV.
Justin is now 100% potty-trained. I say 100% because he had been peeing in the toilet since November, 2009, but he wears a diaper when he poops. Two Fridays ago, when his dad went on holiday leave, he made Justin sit on the toilet when our son said he wanted to poop. Justin was hesitant to do as told and was whining all the time until he said he didn’t want to poop anymore. Justin’s dad then reminded everyone in the house to start encouraging Justin to pee and poop in the bathroom.
When Justin hinted he wanted to poop in the afternoon of the same day, his yaya assisted him in the toilet. He was still insisting he’d poop in his diaper, but her yaya didn’t budge. After much coaxing, he finally did it, not once, but thrice! Success! He was so proud of his accomplishment that he constantly boasted about it to all of us in the house and to his lolo when he talked to him over the phone. He agreed to poop in the toilet on the following conditions: (1) both his feet would be up on the toilet seat while pooping, (2) he wouldn’t be able to hear the sound of his poop dropping into the toilet; and (3) he wouldn’t be able to smell his poop.
It took us a long time to completely potty-train our son, but the long wait was worth it. Justin is turning four on July 7.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.
Are you still looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? How about giving your dad an iPod Touch? But that’s too expensive, you might say! Well, you don’t need to buy one if you can win one! Because Charter recognizes the all-important role that dads play in the lives of their children, it’s offering special deals for Father’s Day.
First off, you can get a gift card to The Home Depot or other retailers worth up to $300 when you purchase one of Charter’s best bundles. Plus, you can also be one of the 100 lucky winners of an 8GB iPod Touch! No purchase is required to join this contest! Enter now to win an iPod Touch.
Charter is giving away iPod Touches to demonstrate what their new mobile app for BlackBerry, iPhone, and iPod can do. With this new mobile app that you can download for free, the world of Charter is literally at your fingertips. Charter’s new mobile app allows you to:
• Learn about Charter services • Check TV and On Demand listings • View On Demand trailers • Access news, sports, and weather • Obtain Charter support and bill pay info
I’m sure you don’t want to hear your dad say, “Not another tie!” when he opens your Father’s Day gift to him. If I were you, I’ll give him something that will make him really happy. What could be greater than giving your dad digital access to everything he loves?
Last Friday afternoon, exactly four days after Nanay was discharged from the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), we accompanied her to the clinic of her heart surgeon for her first follow-up checkup after her coronary artery bypass graft. This was to check for any infection and to remove her remaining surgery stitches.
According to Dr. C., there seems to be no signs of surgical site infection. He also looked at Nanay’s left leg where most of the vessels used for her heart bypass came from. There was a hematoma on Nanay’s upper left leg. Dr. C.said that area should be massaged gently and should be treated with a hot compress. He’ll have to see on our next visit, which is next Saturday, if it has to be aspirated.
I was surprised that we were not charged a consultation fee after the good doctor was done examining our mom. I don’t remember any of my doctors at Makati Medical Center giving me free follow-up checkups after my craniotomy in 2004! Now, this tells me that PHC doctors have a heart! I’m starting to love them already!
Oh, by the way, children below 7 years are allowed in the doctors’ clinics at PHC, so we made sure to bring Justin along. Do you know what kept him busy outside the clinic while waiting for Dr. C. to arrive? Nanay’s wheelchair! He was having a really good time maneuvering it and making it stop when he wanted to.
Are you ready, Nanay?
Here we go!
So, do you think Justin will come again with us on Nanay's next follow-up checkup?
The past two months were quite stressful for our family because after we learned about our mom’s severe heart condition, we had to raise a huge amount of money for her coronary artery bypass graft, which took us more than a month to accomplish. With God’s grace and with the help of family and friends, we were finally able to have her surgery done more than a week ago. Now that our family crisis is over, I badly needed to unwind. Branson vacation packages sound enticing, but they’re beyond our budget right now. Oh well, there will always be a next time!
It's daddies' time to shine here at Mommy Moments! Advance Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!
My husband wants us to have a good life. We both came from poor families, so we never inherited anything from our parents. We had to start from scratch. That’s why my husband works really hard to provide for our financial needs. He has a stressful job, and I know that his way of de-stressing is playing chess online and watching live chess tournaments on the Internet when he goes home after work. Sometimes, when he becomes too engrossed in what he’s doing, he unmindfully forgets there are people around him that need his attention, too. Justin wouldn’t let him get away with it, however, because he will surely find a way for his daddy to notice him. Smart kid, huh?
Their bonding times consist of watching DVDs, playing online games, going to the mall,playing arcade games, eating out, buying toys, or roughhousing. The photos below capture some of their father-son bonding activities.
Enjoying the playground swing
Riding a bumper boat
Strolling in the mall
Playing arcade games
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I'm a work-at-home mom to a hyperactive four-year-old boy who's my constant source of joy and inspiration. I love going to the mall with my family, watching movies with my hubby, playing with my son, reading books, singing, decluttering our home, and blogging.
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