The week in pictures....

Chloe's growth chart

We actually received a beautiful growth chart during my baby shower, courtesy of Vivian and Momon. But, I don't know where to hang it. I've been wanting to redecorate Chloe's room for ages now, so that I can hang the growth chart. But siguro by the time we do get to that task, Chloe will be in her teens na harhar.

I don't mind really. There's something charmingly old fashioned with marking her height on the doorpost. Can you believe she can grow a few cms in just a few days? I double, triple and quadruple checked pa. She's growing so fast. It's a bittersweet thing. I'm happy she's growing, but I'm sad too. Can anyone relate?


Uber expensive cheesecake from Italianni's

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was super craving for baked cheesecake. So one day, while dizzy with hunger, I called 2121212 quickdelivery to order Italianni's cheesecake. Never mind that it cost Php 450. I figured, I'll savor the whole cake naman eh. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when my order arrived. Php 450 for a wedge of cheesecake?!?! Sabagay, I must have been so dizzy with hunger I forgot that Italianni's wasn't exactly what I'd consider 'reasonably priced.' So savor the cheesecake I did. I made sure it lasted for a week. Harharhar. That is equivalent to one 1.5" sliver a day.


Chloe's pupu chart

Please disregard the dates on the chart. I haven't been coherent for the past week, as implied in the previous paragraph. Anyways, we are just so happy having Chloe fill up her chart for six straight days na. She missed yesterday, but no biggie. See the box with the two stars on the second row? That's coz she pooped twice. One major, one minor. Hehehehe. She insisted on coloring the star as soon as she finished her toilet ritual. And now she wants to make a wiwi chart. Eh? We're running out of surprises na for her.

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Some more poop talk......

I just received some terribly sad news about a friend's son. The boy passed away due to diarrhea. My initial reaction was - how can anyone die of diarrhea? But another friend explained how serious diarrhea really is. So to moms out there, please, please take diarrhea seriously. If your babies don't show improvement after a day of severe diarrhea, contact your pedia na. Don't wait! I'm guilty of waiting din sometimes. Like when Chloe was really suffering from stomach pains in the middle of the night. I thought hard before calling her pedia, because it was near midnight and the pedia might not really appreciate the midnight call. But I thought, I'd rather be a makapal mom and call her, than wait till morning and watch Chloe suffer. I never regret calling her. I just give her something on our next pedia visit.

Stay healthy everyone!

Happy Over Crap

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be so happy to see poop.

Two weeks ago, after a very, VERY traumatic E.R. experience, Chloe was diagnosed with chronic constipation. Now, I've never had a problem with pooping. Of course, there's the occasional one to two days of constipation, but nothing that a slice of papaya would not solve. Sorry, was that too much information for you? :D

But of course, things are different when you're dealing with a toddler, who, doctors said, has one week's worth of poop stuck in the lower left quadrant of her abdomen. ONE WEEK! The usual question I get is, "How could you not have noticed that she hasn't pooped for a week?!?!" And here is the answer. It's not that she didn't poop for a week. She poops everyday, pero konti lang. And sometimes, she'd poop when she's with her yaya, so I don't get to see how much she poops really.

So dealing with a toddler with one week's worth of poop stuck up inside her is no easy task. First, you have to deal with her nightly cries of pain. Chloe cried herself to sleep. Sometimes, I think she fell asleep out of exhaustion from the pain.

Second, since she had lots of poop inside her tummy, I assumed she felt full all the time. So she barely ate or drank. Eh the doctor ordered pa naman for her to drink lots of prune juice and eat lots of papaya -- all of which she refused. Even water, she refused! I even considered just using a syringe to force prune juice down her throat.

Third, not only did she refuse food and water, she also refused to drink her medicine. It took two people to give her her meds. One (yaya) to hold her down, the other one (me) to force it down her throat with a syringe. I felt so evil doing it, but I knew I had to.

The whole thing was traumatic not only for her but for me too. I felt so helpless seeing her lying down the whole day, refusing to eat or drink, refusing to even watch tv. She'd just lie down and sleep for the most part of the day. I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what to do. I bugged her pedia to no end. But the pedia said, all we could really do was wait. If, by a certain day Chloe showed no improvement, she'd refer us to a gastroenterologist. We did use suppositories and even had her undergo an enema in the hospital, but the relief they gave was temporary. By afternoon, she'd be on her tummy, in pain again.

So imagine my happiness when last Sunday, after several sessions of sitting down on the toilet with her, and coming up with different imaginative stories about a lost poop who finally sees the light and find its way out of her body, Chloe FINALLY pooped!!!

I was so happy I wanted to announce it on Facebook. :D

But I knew my FB circle wouldn't really appreciate the information. So I called the one person who I knew would share the happiness with me.

I called my husband.

And we were both really, really happy over poop!!

Then I made a pupu chart, where stars are drawn for every day that she poops.



If she can fill up a row with stars, she gets a major surprise! But we do give her little surprises for every day that she does. Plus, she gets to draw the stars herself (all in shades of pink).



It's been two weeks since the diagnosis. So far, so good. Her appetite has gone back to normal. And lately she poops more frequently na. :)

Vday

At around 4.30pm yesterday, I got the biggest surprise of my life:



Flowers from Mike!! From Mike!! Flowers!!


I put them in our tabo (while looking around the house for a vase). The next morning, I was saddened to see this:



The flowers have wilted. The petals were coming off:



Some bulbs came off completely:


Oh well. Tulips were never meant to live in tropical countries. And with the heat now, I knew I had only a few hours with them. Right now, I have the aircon on just so I can extend their lives a bit. :D I'm sentimental and crazy that way.

Thank you honey. It's been 9 years since we first met each other. And yes, it still feels like the dating stage. :)

33 weeks today

I can't bilibit.

We might be able to see baby M in three weeks!! According to 3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com, this is how our baby M looks like now:

33 Weeks Pregnant

We opted not to get a 4D scan na lang. After all, we'll be able to see her in three to five weeks na!! Save the money na lang. I wonder though if she'll mind that her achi got lots of pics even while in my tummy, while the only pic I have of her is the one where she looked like a skull.

How am I feeling?
I'm feeling panicky - still so many things to do! Clothes to wash, dressers and shelves to build... We purposely delayed buying things because.. well, I didn't want to preempt our situation. Just in case something goes wrong, I didn't want to go home and see all the things we have already prepared for her.

I'm feeling scared - labor pains and all. Side kwento. During my first pregnancy, I asked a good friend to describe labor pains. She said, it's a combination of dysmenorrhea and diarrhea but 10x intensified. Ah sus... kayang kaya ko yan, I thought. Then D day came, and I tell you, it was NOTHING like 10x diarrhea and dysmenorrhea! It's more of feeling something inside you ripping your guts out. Like electric shocks emanating from inside your gut, NON STOP. Like your whole puson slowly tearing away from your whole body. Well, you get the point. :) But do not worry. I've talked to other moms and not all had these words to describe labor pains. :D

I seem to not have an appetite. I see food and it makes me sick. I do get hungry at odd hours, like immediately after lunch or before going to sleep. And when I do get hungry, I crave for different foods. It can be Brother's Burger one day, then the native palitaw the next. As of this writing, I am craving for rich and creamy cheesecake - the baked kind.

Baby M still doesn't have a final name. Mike and I can't agree on names!! To him, everything I suggest sounds like a porn star's name daw. To me, everything he suggests sounds so dated and old. What to do what to do.

I still cannot believe we made it this far. Ten weeks ago, while confined in the labor room,I thought we were going to lose baby M. Two weeks ago, while in a wedding reception, I thought baby M was coming out na. I didn't know which was worse - the thought of giving birth in the middle of the ballroom, or of baby M coming out prematurely.

We took it one day at a time. I thanked God for each day that she stayed in my womb. And now, here we are. The thought of having a new addition to our family seems so .. surreal. In three to five weeks time, we will be the parents of two beautiful girls. Chloe will be a big sister na.

I am enjoying the last few weeks of my time alone with Chloe. After all, these moments (just Chloe, me and Mike) will never happen again.

Sick

If our nearby hospital issues a customer loyalty card, we would probably be one of the first in line to get one.

The three of us (Mike, Chloe and I) have been taking turns getting sick since December last year. Never all at the same time. But usually, it's Mike or Chloe who gets sick more frequently. I'm the 'healthiest' one.

Just a side kwento. The age gap between me and Mike is six years - a super, duper BIG NO-NO for the traditional Chinese. According to the Chinese horoscope, any of these things can happen:
- Mike and I will fight a lot OR
- Mike will get sick a lot. (He's a pig, I'm a snake. I'm more powerful between the two)

And then, Chloe was born in the year of the pig too.

And they're getting sick a lot.....

So I'm looking around for a feng shui expert to tell me if there's a pangontra for these things.

Chinese horoscopes and feng shui stuff aside, I really think people are getting sick a lot because of the weather. The cold in the air just leaves our immune system weakened. Plus the strain of the viruses going around is probably stronger now than it used to be. A cold used to last for just a few days. Mine has been around for more than a week now.

Aside from the weather, I also think it's the food we eat that weakens our system. Which is why I want to switch to a healthier diet. Have been looking around for organic stuff lately. One of these days, I'm going to donate all the processed foods in our pantry, which my parents so happily buy every week. I've lectured them so many times on the ill effects of processed foods and canned goods, all to no avail. To them, there is a part of the pig's body that resembles the meat in a can of Spam. Haaay.

Stay healthy everyone!

One fine Sunday...

We decided to bring Chloe biking at Fort Bonifacio


Unfortunately, the bike's gears weren't working. So the little one decided to start posing for pictures instead..



After which, we all got hungry and went to Chelsea Market & Cafe for a late lunch. The little one feasted on the complimentary bread...


Mike had this pork dish with cranberries...


I had the Fettuccine Carbonara. I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture. :P

We ended the day with scoops of gelato from Gelatissimo....


We took lots of pics that day, but this one is my favorite....



FYI, I was seated most of the time. :)

Discipline 101

It is during times like these when I feel that I am unfit for motherhood.

I just came from a two hour battle with Chloe. Over eight spoonfuls of rice and chicken adobo. And the battle is not over. She is still downstairs, facing the wall and crying her heart out. I cannot say that I've won the battle, even though she is currently serving her 'sentence' for it. We are both worn out, tired and exasperated from each other. Yet, I do not think either of us came out the wiser.

I have left the care of Chloe to her yaya for almost seven months now. The yaya is wonderful. At least, I think she is. I feel she loves Chloe, and sincerely believes she's doing the right thing. But after interviewing several moms who have kids around Chloe's age, and finding out that their kids are eating by themselves already, I panicked. A year ago, while we were out malling, Mike and I saw a boy of about eight to ten years old, being spoonfed by a yaya while his mom looked on. Spoonfed. At (conservatively) eight years old!!! I shudder at the thought of Chloe reaching that age, and still being spoonfed.

So the transition from being spoonfed to eating by herself was sudden. One day, I just decided on it. I know she knows how to eat by herself. All I have to do now is make her want to do it.

And from the looks of it, I'm not being successful at the task.

I have to remind myself that I am dealing with a three year old. I have to remind myself that when I was still single, I had dreams of being THE BEST mom because I'd know how to handle my own kids well. Silly me. It wasn't a dream. It was a fantasy.

Look at where we are now. :( The dinner table has become a battleground of some sort. We both dread being on it. We both cannot wait to get out of it.

Not only that. But lately, EVERYTHING has been a struggle. From getting her to brush her teeth in the morning, to getting her to brush her teeth at night. Even the aircon and electric fan have become issues. She wants it on. I want it off. And we fight.

Sometimes, actually, a lot of times, I just want to let her be. You don't want to brush your teeth? Then don't. You don't want to eat? Then don't. But if I do that, what kind of mother would I be?

I need to preserve my sanity, if only so I'd still be sane when the second baby comes. Even now, when people (i.e. MY MOM) tell me I need to bring another baby to this world in the hopes that it'll be a boy, in my mind, I am secretly bonking them on the head already. It would be so easy to just give birth and leave everything to the yaya's hands. But I know myself -- I cannot do it. I AM a hands on mom.

The other day, after a post toothbrush war, Chloe told her yaya she's scared of me. Because I'm so mad daw. It broke my heart into pieces. It made me think even more of whether I'm doing the right thing.

I knew parenting would be hard. I just didn't realize it would be this hard.

Hormonal

So to clarify, I am hormonal not because I'm mad at the world. :)

But because lately, I have been extra teary eyed, and that's putting it mildly.

I.cry.at.everything.

The night before Mike left for HK, I cried like we wouldn't see each other for the next six months. To think he would be gone for only five days.

I cried while watching 'My Amnesia Girl.' Not teary eyed crying. More like hagulgol crying.

I cried while watching the last two episodes of Desperate Housewives. Why? I do not know.

I cried when I saw McDonald's relaunching of the Karen commercial.

I cry when I see Chloe do something new. I cry when she tells me she loves me. Every night.

So that is why I think I'm hormonal.