Mommy Moments: My Baby's Haircut

We defied the pamahiin that babies should only get their first haircut after the 1st birthday. Jared had his at 10 months and we wished we did it earlier.

My son was gifted with a full head of thick, black hair at birth.


At 7 months, he had these adorable curls...


By 9 months, he looked like this...


So, we had to tie up his hair, making him alternately look like a girl or a sumo wrestler.


At 10 months, with his eyes getting irritated all the time, we decided to take the plunge and brought him to Cuts 4 Tots at MOA.


A few snips later, here is our little boy who became a little man right before our eyes!



Share your baby's haircut with us at Mommy Moments!

Mommy Moments: Grandparents Bonding

My mom can't wait for the day that she'll hear the sweetest word in her vocabulary that her first apo will utter... and that is "lola".

To say that my mom loves my son is an understatement. She is crazy over him! Taking pictures of his every milestone and everthing else in between, or if not, then reminding me to be the one to take the photos. Her apo's picture is the one on her computer screen, and the proud lola gives snippets of stories and anecdotes of her apo's antics to whoever will care to listen.

I'll be forever grateful to my mom for saving my sanity in the first few days, or even the first few months, following my son's birth. When all those sleepless nights sent me crying with my son, mama comes to the rescue and makes Jared sleep beside her, giving me the much needed rest. This she does even if she also has to work the following day. On days no one will take care of my son, she volunteers to take a leave to do her grandma duties. May I also add she gave my son his first bath while I watched, simply too scared to do it, from the sidelines.

So, until that eventful day comes that my son will say "lola", lola gets the much needed love from hugs, kisses and my son's squeals of delight!

Join us at Mommy Moments this week.

Remember when you were pregnant?

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of pregnant women. A lot more than usual, I think. I see them at the office elevator, at the mall, at the restaurant, at the bank. They come in all shapes and sizes, too.

It made me think about the days when I was pregnant. My pregnancy was not smooth sailing. There were complications to think of, but inspite of that, I think that was one of the best times of my life! At the onset of my pregnancy, I was determined that I will make the most out of it. Aside from savoring the feel of holding a little miracle inside of me, I vowed I will look my best. If truth be told, I think I was dreading comments like " are you having a boy?", with the implication that you're getting ugly and all.

I skipped the cravings for something unusual like ice cream and fish (weird!) or some seedless fruit that is either difficult to find or exorbitantly priced. I did want mangoes though and can consume 2 kilos in one sitting. I stopped when the OB explained the risks of gestational diabetes.

I skipped the morning sickness altogether, too. Aside from the awkwardness in walking, dressing up and the general heavy feeling that comes with the added weight in the tummy during the last month or so of my pregnancy, think I've never looked better (hahaha). Carrying a baby can indeed make one look even lovelier than a bride on her wedding day.

Looking back, I can say those 9 months evoke such nice, warm, and wonderful feelings of a happily pregnant wife.

My baby, the arrhae bearer

Last Saturday, we attended the beautiful wedding of my good friend, and Jared's ninang, Cathy. Cat and Marwin, both doctors, were blessed with beautiful weather to mark this joyous day. We were part of the approx 150 guests who were witness to their exchange of vows.. for richer or for poorer, until death do us part.



Since my little boy was part of the entourage as an arrhae bearer, mommy has to dress up a bit too since I'm going to accompany him on his first ever walk down the aisle. Technically though, this is the 2nd time he is part of a wedding entourage
(but the wedding of Ninang Shirl two weeks ago was short and sweet with no processional).

The ceremony was at the Magallanes church, cocktails at the Upper Lobby and the reception at the Conservatory of the Peninsula.

The scenario: I was trying to hold on to my son who was squirming in my arms, trying to get hold of the arrhae on the pillow mommy was holding while smiling for the cameras and silently prodding daddy, who was comfortably standing in the corner, to get up to take a picture of this momentuous event.

Luckily, we did get to smile for the cameras and amuse the guests a bit, thanks to my son who successfully kicked off one shoe right before we marched. Sadly though, daddy did not get the cue and I have no picture of our march to post here. We'll just wait for the official photos from Niceprint so we can get a copy.

We did manage to take a few shots right before the processional.




posing for daddy's cam



upside down

To Cat and Marwin, here's to a start of a great life together! Cheers!

Budding Photographer

My sister, whom my son calls Tati (instead of Tita), is a budding photographer. Her favorite subject? Her cute and precocious nephew. I told her if she can take good pictures of my son (who rarely sits still), she's on her way to becoming a good kiddie photographer. hehe.

Of course, I'm pleased with her new hobby as we'll have loads of nice photos to keep.

Mommy Moments: Silly Moments

We caught Jared with a silly but pricessless expression on his face during our stay at Mimosa, Clark last October.

Isn't he adorable? His eyes are so big and look at that mouth! I'm not sure if he's trying to make faces at us but looking at this photo just cracks me up.

Above are a few more shots taken during that vacation.

This is my entry for this week's Mommy Moments!

My newfound love: Digiscrapping

I found a new love, and I'm mighty proud of it!

I'm a latebloomer when it comes to certain things and digiscrapping is one of them. I didn't get caught in the craze early on.How I wish I had the interest months earlier so I could have scrapped my son's milestones shortly after they happened.

Now, I'm making up for lost time by doing a layout at least once a week. I'm so behind on this. My son turned a year old already and yet I'm still doing the layout of "Love at First Bite", his first taste of solid food.

But Im pretty sure I'll catch up soon.

Here are a few of the designs I've done.

A few weeks before his party

4th month celebration

Family photos

Happy Mommy Moments

It's my first time to join the other moms in Mommy Moments and I'm so excited.

I was browsing through a thousand or so photos in my drive and they all look Happy to me!

Couldn't really choose one so I tried to create a collage of photos. Unfortunately, when I tried to upload the file, it looked blue onscreen making me and baby look like aliens. So, I just have to leave you with this sweet photo taken during baby's baptism.

This is a tangible reminder of how happy life is with my son.

Join us at Mommy Moments next week for silly moments!

Beach Days

Boracay (2003?)

Liliw, Laguna (2004)

Balicasag, Bohol (2004)

Iba, Zambales (2003)

It's just May but the rains are upon us. I so miss the beach getaways of summers past when what we did was just to swim, eat, sleep and bask in the sun.

Mother's Day takes on a whole new meaning

No, we did not spend Mother's Day at the mall, or with a cake especially for me. We needed to fix some things around the house, and I understand our priorities at the moment. We spent the morning cleaning our work-in-progress dream home and chasing our son around the house. Just the usual weekend for us.

This time last year, my son was just a month old. He was mostly sleeping and as much as I want to, I wasn't able to take a photo of us together ( a decent one). I could barely keep up with his breastfeeding schedule that time and I was too tired to even comb my hair for a nice photo.

This year, I've been a recipient of many a mother's day greeting again. I thank all my friends and relatives for those greetings but i think the sweetest joy will be to hear it from my son. I can't wait. Maybe next year, he'll be able to say happy already. =)

For now, i share with you a photo of how differently I see Mother's Day. It's a day made special with the love my son reserves just for his mommy.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there.

Wedding Nostalgia

We attended the wedding of my cousin Shirley to long-time beau, Deck last May 8. The date coincided with their 8th anniversary as a couple. My son was the coin bearer in this simple but heartfelt celebration of love.

I wasn't able to take photos because I was busy setting up at the reception and doing the hosting stint after that.

It made me feel like a bride all over again!

Jared's 1st Birthday party

some family shots before the party started

entrance tarp designed by mommy

NFWC

entrance styro

Name tags

face painting

goodie bags

prize booth

sailor outfit

sailor in training romper

cupcake details

cupcake topper

cupcake by frupcakes

invite envelopes

ticket type invite

centerpieces

wonderful stage set up by polkadots (ehem, design from mommy)

Here are some shots from Jared's party last April 4 at NFWC. All photos courtesy of Ging Lorenzo.

List of suppliers:

Stage Decor/Set up: Polkadots Events

Cupcake Tree: Frupcakes

Food carts: Arce Ice Cream and Potato corner c/o Polkadots

Magician/Host: Alex Lagula c/o Polkadots

Tarp/Invites/IDTags: DIY

Outfit: c/o Partyboosters/Gap

Photographer: Ging Lorenzo