My Christmas wish list - IPOD

When I visited the Apple Store in New York last April, I never wanted to leave the place. I wish to live there. I’ve seen the Macs but my heart longs for an IPOD. The iPod is one of the world’s most popular music and video players. Until now, I haven’t had the opportunity to own one because ipods now offer varied styles, great features and storage memory to choose from, my heart becomes finicky about these gadgets. I am choosing between IPOD Touch and IPOD Nano. Whenever I have time, I browse these sites to help me review and compare these IPOD gadgets.

I thought I forgotten about it until I gave birth and the Christmas now fast approaching. I thought I’d like to give it another try and wish for an IPOD as a Christmas gift. Ipods make excellent gifts to your loved ones of any age. I use this site to compare prices of these gadgets and it will be easier for my gift giver to have a wide selection of stores to buy my IPOD online.

I just hope I will receive my IPOD gift soon.

Our new bundle of joy – Alexus Mitchel

I finally gave birth to Alexus last Sunday, November 23 at 1:45 pm thru normal spontaneous delivery. He weighed 7.5 lbs -the heaviest among the three boys. I was so happy to see my 3rd son when I heard him cry after 6 hours of labor. Since this is my 3rd pregnancy, I already knew the signs of labor (see below) but I didn’t expect that it will be that short. For Aloysius and Achilles, it took me 10 to 12 hours of bearing labor pains. I guess the Star City visit helped and maybe I already started feeling the contractions but didn’t mind at all because of excitement of going to Snow World.

By the way, here’s my guide in determining true labor contractions:

10 – 30 – 3
Time between contractions: 10 minutes
Duration of contractions: about 30 seconds
Cervix dilation: up to 3 cm.
Description: Until the cervix has dilated to 3 cm, the contractions will feel similar to strong period cramps. At this point, the water might break or there is a strong discharge.
5 - 60 - 8
Time between contractions: About 5 minutes
Duration of contractions: About 60 seconds
Cervix dilation: 3 to 8 cm
Description: Most of the pain will be centered in the abdomen and lower back. The lower back pain will begin moving a little lower. Some women at this point feel cold or nausea.
1 – 90 – 10
Time between contractions: About 1 minute
Duration of contractions: About 90 seconds
Cervix dilation: 8 to 10 cm
Description: This is the peak of the pain. You may want to push when the physician tells you so. Save your breathing for the final push. You may have peace of mind in knowing that your contractions will disappear as soon as the baby is born.

Anyway, my Alexus Mitchel is a healthy and cute baby. His features are a combination of his 2 brothers and more of his dad’s. (Buti na lang nagmana sa ama, etchetera, etchetera hahaha). I vowed to fully breastfeed him so that he will be healthier and hopefully my breast milk supply won’t fail like the cases of the first 2 babies.

Here are some of the first photos of our latest bundle of joy:

Our (or my kids) Snow World Experience and ranting about Star City

It’s been a week and I haven’t given birth yet. My family decided to go to Snow World this afternoon to experience the Winter Christmas in the Philippines. Aloysius didn’t join the Field Trip in their school yesterday because they will just go to a farm where Aloy already experience while we were in Bohol last year. So instead, I just told him we will go to Snow World in Star City. We arrived in Star City around 5 pm and there’s already a long queue at the ticket booth. Since it’s a Saturday, we expected many people but I didn’t expect that the parking is already filled up with Field Trip buses. I was frustrated at how we lost time in getting to the Snow World area because it is located in the farthest end and we had to pass thru a maze (Star City is poorly organized, the rides are scattered every where unlike Enchanted Kingdom where there is a theme in every area and the signs are visible enough not to let you get lost). Star City management should have a separate entrance to save time and energy for those who decided to purchase the Snow World ticket.

Anyway, when we got near, the line is too long. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to go inside because I’m pregnant so Wendy, Candy and I waited for Daddylo, Mama, Carter, Ces, Aloysius and Achilles while they enjoy the so-called Snow World. This account is according to my 6 year-old son and my siblings. By the way, we came in prepared, we brought winter clothes with us, with matching gloves, bonnet and scarves to protect us. The kids had 3 layers of jackets including the one provided by the Star City, they were able to last for over 30 minutes unlike the others who didn’t and just passed by (sayang ang P160 pesos). Aloy said he was so excited he tried to get the snow and form a snow ball but the ice is too hard (parang galing sa freezer). Then he was jumping up and down the ice which was hard daw. He had to pee good thing they brought an empty bottle, I asked if he felt his batotoy getting off hehehe. They went to ride the slide and checked out the different sculptures. This year’s theme was Christmas so last year’s sculptures were better and that’s according to my son when I showed him the photos taken by Anton of Our Awesome Planet. He was looking for the world’s famous landmarks like Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty but didn’t find in this year’s Snow World. In fairness, my sons enjoyed the different kind of experience they had at the ICE world, that’s what it’s more appropriately called per Aloysius, he just can’t believe that he didn’t see any snow flakes falling. Hahaha.

Here are the 2 pictures we bought from Star City, they won’t allow you to bring any kind of camera because of the moist so we paid for P 100 each to have a souvenir.





My kids looked good in cold weather, rosy cheeks and red lips. And my family too, they had a blast if it weren’t for my dad’s aching feet–frost bite they could have lasted longer than 30 minutes -average of only 10 minutes for those without proper clothing gear so be prepared if you plan to go there. BTW, the temperature inside is zero degrees Celsius.

More comments on Star City:

While Wendy and I were waiting, I was thinking that the ride-all-you-can fee of P375 is too much for a maze of rides without an aircondition on enclosed areas. I didn’t even see a sign for Fire Exit if there’s one. I was looking for them in case there’s a stampede. Looks like it’s going to be another Ozone disco case if this is not addressed because I only remember the way going out using the way I entered in. With the influx of visitors like this afternoon, (I was thankful nothing happened) it could really happen again. I just hope the Elizaldes and Manila City Government should consider taking preventive measures soon.

Meaning of luggages in a dream

I dreamt of 3 big luggages brought by 3 older but single women. they were not carrying it nor handing it over to me. The luggages are just there in my dream. Here's what I found out about seeing luggages in your dreams:

"This dream indicates that you are juggling with a lot of responsibilities (luggage) and struggling against time constraints. But at the same time the dream reveals that, in general, you are a very well-organised person. The dream says that you need to plan ahead and tackle smaller pieces of a task at a time, don't take on more than is manageable."

Maybe I was just too anxious about giving birth and how will I take care of my two boys and eventually the baby all alone, the risk of losing my job and the immigration to Canada in the offing. I really hope I can do what the interpretation says, to plan and take smaller peices of task at a time.

May God help me.

My First Blurb Book

What is Blurb?

Blurb is a company and a community that believes passionately in the joy of books – reading them, making them, sharing them, and selling them.

Holding a finished book with your name on the cover is a truly amazing feeling; it’s one of those experiences everyone should have.

I started browsing and contemplating on using Blurb in the middle of the year but it's only now that I was able to finish a whole book. Well, it's taking me so long to conceptualize my kids album so I took a different approach and made my trip to the US my first Blurb project and would you believe I was able to finish it in 2 days. I realized that all the pictures in the Sony T7 camera were set in low-resolution (good for web use only) so I was disappointed that I was not able to use the full bleed/ full spread templates for my book. Good thing, Blurb has other options. I was able to use the collage and smaller squares templates and it only took 46 pages for all my pictures from the US trip.

Thanks for Noreen and Mylene from N@W who introduced me to Blurb and answered all my queries. I even got discount coupon codes from the site Mylene gave and took advantage of $10 off my whole book (10 x 8 landscape, hardbound with imagewrap) which costs $40.22 plus shipping within US. I'm so excited to receive the actual book.

Check this out - the preview of my Blurb Photobook

Photo Opps with Santa

While Aloysius and Achilles were attending a Birthday party at ATC with Tita Wendy, Ces and Candy, Mama and I had a chance to shop for Christmas gifts for the boys at Rustan’s because I might not have a chance when the baby is already here. I thought it was still early to shop but the store seemed to be a bit busy today. Christmas spirit is all over and it was so nice to shop, Christmas songs are being played and there was even a Santa Claus roaming around and goodies for the kids. After shopping, the kids arrived and we had photo opportunities with Santa Claus in his corner for free while in the other malls this is already P150.00. Kyle was so amazed he even sat in Santa’s lap. Kuya Aloysius enjoyed the cookies but Candy was in all fear and cries each time she sees Santa. Of course, I wouldn’t let this chance pass without me (and Alexus) in the photo with Santa. Here's our pics and the kids pics at the party. Oh BTW, Kyle won in one of the games, he was the smallest in the group.

Academic Achievement for Miggy

I’m so happy today after finding out that Miggy is Top 2 in his class and No. 5 in overall Grade 1 that I treated him for a day out in the mall. He had his favorite pizza, had a tour at Toy Kingdom to get the toy of his choice (glad he found a value for money one hehe) and enjoyed the party he attended with Kyle. I had the chance to talk to his teacher and she said that he only needs to participate more in recitation to get to the top. According to Teacher Joy, he was inhibited and only answers when called. Just the same, she congratulated me because Aloysius has improved a lot in his tests and exercises (he got 3 perfect scores out of 7 subjects). His awards for this quarter included Best in English and Best in MAPE.

I’m proud to post his report and achievement cards here:

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