Welcome to the Christian World!!

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October 11, 2009 -- finally, Migo was baptized. Thankfully, the weather was fine that Sunday. After the Ondoy scare and Pepeng's U-turn, I sort of became paranoid of the rain. I even prayed the novena and asked Infant Jesus to please, please, spare us that day. Obviously, it was an answered prayer.

I am writing every bits and pieces of this occassion, and of course the experience behind our Migo's baptism.


Church: St.Peter's Parish (Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City)
We already chose Good Shepherd Cathedral to be the church, but the people there were so unprofessional. Rewind to October 1, I called Good Shepherd to have October 11 pencil-booked for a special baptism but the one who talked to me (unfortunately I was not able to get her name) told me that they do not pencil book. Afraid that I won't be able to get the date, I told her I will just go to the church a little later to pay for the baptismal fee, problem was I did not have the requirements on hand. I so wanted to pay to book the date but she did not allow me, but instead she assured me that October 11 was fine. Fine then, so I printed the invites and distributed them already. Come October 3, Elmer and I went to their office with the pay and the requirements ready only to be told that October 11 was already booked for a whole day event!! Huwwaaaat??!! I was already fuming mad and Elmer was obviously wanted to blame me for this (syempre, ako in charge sa event na ito e). But the staff just went on to what they were doing, not even offering any other option. I told the guy who we were talking to that I already phoned two days back and a girl assured me October 11 was open. I insisted to no avail. We then thought of St. Peter's. We head there straight. The staff were all friendly and easy to talk to. They accommodated us as if we were very special people. We were treated like a celebrity, or a politician hehe.. and I noticed that it went like that to everybody they assisted. Nice treatment, really!! Come the baptismal day itself, we were ushered to the baptismal room that really looked great!! Aircondition is cool. I mean, even if we were cramped up inside, malamig pa rin. We had a small "talk" or in other words, seminar, about baptism. And the baptismal room had this fixture which I so love:





Food: CCME Homemade Food Stuff --- www.homemadefoodstuff.com
Suki kami ng CCME. Bonifacios (Rockville) as well as Kimpos (Fairview). Their food was soooo yummy and the price was amazingly low for such a delightful dish. Before deciding on CCME, we considered Shagrila Finest Cuisine in West Avenue, Tramway in Timog, Pandan in Capitol Hills, and Martha's Plate in Marikina. CCME beat all of them. But honestly, I also had some second thoughts whether to really get them or not, for no doubt their food is delicious, however I was quite hesitant of their catering service. I asked around regarding their catering service but mostly, like us, they just availed of the food delivery. Bahala na si Batman! became my attitude. Maging palpak man sila sa catering, bawi naman sa food. That was my consolation. Good thing they proved me wrong. Aside from the sumptuous food, their catering service was good enough for a simple handaan. Not much for the set-up though, but we were informed about that already. Kasi nga, sa food talaga sila concentrate. Nora, the one in charge of our account, told me she would be deploying 8waiters but 10 waiters arrived to serve. All of the waiters were polite, even asking permision from us if they could go out for a while to relieve themselves. Nakakatuwa kasi pati pag-CR nila nagpapaalam pa. They really asked permission pa ha ;) As for the food, do I need to say more? Yum, yum, yum!!! Guests were telling us the food was impressive. And even though the guests went back and forth to the buffet table, there were still leftovers enough to last us for a week!! Meaning, CCME had big servings. We had four courses (no dessert) and paid p37,400 good for 150 heads, making it 249.35 per head. Mura na yan kasi bawi naman sa mga natirang food e, which as I have said, could last us for a week.






Centerpieces: Letters/Alphabet Blocks and Sesame Street Characters
Since CCME did not have appropriate centerpieces for baptism, I let out my labor of love and made my own centerpieces. I decided to make blocks, some of them spelled MIGO, and put sesame street characters to add more color. I enjoyed making each centerpiece, though I should admit that I was close to getting a fever due to sleepless nights just to finish it. It was hard focusing on the project while taking care of Migo. So everytime I had free time which mostly started at around twelve midnight when Migo was in full deep sleep, I would sit on the floor and do my thing. I finished around twelve centerpieces. Brian, the ever creative nephew of Elmer, made the additional seven centerpieces which were balloons with sesame characters.




Tokens: Straight From the Heart Prayer Companion Book
Elmer and I decided to have this as our token because this prayer book was my strength when I was still pregnant. Back to my last trimester, I had complicated pregnancy all of a sudden and I prayed like five to six different novenas in a day from this book. When I was in labor, I was holding this prayer book all throughout the ordeal. And everytime Migo gets sick or feel uncomfortable, I run to this book and say a prayer. I also prayed for a good weather during Migo's baptism, again from this book, and it was granted. It costed us less than P200 each. Available at St.Pauls in all SM Stores


Guests' Tokens: Papemelroti Notepad
I was contemplating whether to give towel cupcake or notepad as token for the guests. I was browsing over towel cupcakes and I found myself liking it everytime I looked at it. I was set to go to Divilandia and buy my stuff and make my own towel cake, but then Ondoy hit Manila. The storm obviously made it impossible for me to get out. Paranoid that a storm, or a heavy rain for that matter, would fall anyday soon, I just opted to go to the nearest SM store and looked around for a token. I found myself inside papemelroti and liking almost everything in there. I found the notepad useful, so why not give it out to the guests? We availed of the 20% for every 50pcs purchase. We bought 100pcs. We paid around p1,520 for 100pcs.

Outfit:
He wore a mini pair of barong from So-En Bebe and white shoes from First Step.It costed us more or less p550 for this get up. He then changed to his reception outfit when we got home. Nangati kasi sya sa barong fabric and he was so uneasy. He wore two kinds of Oshkosh shirt, p249.00 each and boy's pants, around p250.00



Entance Piece: Rubbermats
We bought rubber puzzle mat because Migo now wants to lie on his tummy and is already starting to crawl. Then I just thought that since my theme was alphabet blocks, why not form these puzzle mats into blocks, spell the name MIGO, and put it in the entrance area. Bumagay naman sya sa pwesto nya. And later that night,madami nang nagpapapicture sa tabi nung puzzle mats. One pack constists of 26 mats and it costed us around p200 only.




Others:
Lechon---Lydia's lechon courtesy of Ninong Eric
Dessert --- Mister Donut courtesy of Tito Edmund
Fresh Ubod Lumpia --- courtesy of my mommy (mamu for Migo)
Tanduay Ice (for the manginginoms) courtesy of Tito Edwin
Balloon Decors --- courtesy of ate Eileen, arranged by Brian

When Ondoy shocked the nation

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September 26,2009--I woke up at around 6 in the morning to instruct manang Gloria what to cook for our breakfast. First reaction was: umuulan? paano kami aalis nito? The three of us were supposed to be going out (again!) to get Elmer's ultrasound result in Healthway North Edsa. To cut short, we did not go because of the rains. Okay lang din sa akin. In fact, I had a lot, as in a lot, to finish that day and going out was my least priority.

One of the tasks I had to finish that day was Migo's baptismal preps. I started wrapping Migo's baptismal tokens at the kitchen-lanay at around 10:30am. I switched on the radio and jump-start myself for a busy day ahead. Rain was pouring so wildly and wind was blowing in almost all direction, me liking the cool and chilling effect from where I was working. The mood made me go on and on, steady and focused with wrapping the souvenirs. After around fifteen minutes, I was about to go inside the pad again to get something and I was so shocked to see water almost knee high!!







Guilty of not being mindful of the heavy rains, maybe because I was so caught up with Migo's baptismal tokens and having set my mind to finish everything that day, I barely noticed how really strong Ondoy was until I saw the raging water from kuya Edwin's place running down to our pad. It was the first time hubby and I experienced such! We put away the carpet, unplugged the appliance, cleared the floor, and packed all our essentials for we might evacuate the pad any minute from then.

I turned on the tv and fished info on what was happening outside. The scenes were all appalling!! How could it happen in a matter of just few hours? Floods as high as eight feet in some areas!! People who tried to go to work now wanting to go home to check on their families, only finding themselves in a very compromising and risky situation. People up on their roofs,some elderly and some even barely a week old, were hoping for some rescue. Ondoy caught everybody off guard.

I texted my mom asking how they were. Good thing they were not that affected by the flood, though the water in front of the house was already knee deep. Mom told me that dad went to bayan where our old house was to help our uncles and cousins evacuate things. You see, that house was so near, as in near the Tulyahan river. Lamesa dam let out water already and the river was a direct hit. But things happened real fast. In a matter of four hours, the basement was all wiped out and they were not able to lift a single thing. Water from the basement went up to the first floor!! Imagine how high the water level was!

Is this one of nature's way of telling us that she is already fed up? That she gives us all her best, providing us all our basic needs from light, to food, the air we breath among others and battering her, abusing her, polluting her is all she gets? Makes me wonder, are we reaping what we sow?
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First and (definitely) last date in Amici

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Selamat pagi!

Since I had my bedrest last April, until I gave birth last May, Elmer and I had no time for dinner date, movies or mall strolling. Honestly, despite the fact that Migo is giving us so much laughter and fills most of our time, I missed going out with hubby-alone.

That was why when Letlet, our ex-kasambahay, asked us if she could be Migo's yaya par-time, I gave her an instant nod. Migo and Letlet seemed to be enjoying each other's company and so far, so good.

Last Saturday, Elmer and I! decided to go to the mall and watch a movie. I wanted so much to watch Bea Alonzo's And I Love You So, but they were out in SM cinemas. I thought Kimmy Dora and The Proposal would be great substitutes. I was so excited!! We left here in Fairview at 2:30pm and come 4:00pm, we were still on the road. Traffic was terrible because of ongoing public viewing of INC's Eranio Manalo. We arrived in Megamall just in time for the anticipated mass. Really, I was so disappointed for I was so set to watch a movie, and my anticipation reached heights already. Needless to say, we were not able to make it to the movies ;(

After mass, Elmer and I were already starving so we decided to have early dinner. We were torn between Racks and Amici. I was kinda partial with Racks because I so wanted their ribs and it was safe to dine there since it was already a familiar place plus we would never go wrong with what to order. As a policy, if we're darn hungry already, we will not experiment on food. Experimenting on what to order would always come up with a wrong choice of food. And wrong choice of food when we're already starving means disaster. But that night we broke the rules. Since I was so intrigued with what Amici had to offer, and the nice feedbacks I heard from their satisfied customers, I chose Amici.

A sweet lady greeted us as we enter Amici. She gave us the menu and once decided, we should go to the cashier to place the order and pay. I thought this was not a "self-service" type of restaurant. I heard this is considered "poor man's Italianni's" so I thought they also imitated every bit of Italianni's. Anyways, I ordered lasagna, hubby ordered Pollo Arrostito, and one Tutta Carne for sharing. Sa totoo lang, sa menu palang parang ang dami kulang. Or they were just being straight and simple? The description of each meal did not sound appealing at all. Unlike with other restaurants where description of each dish was carefully thought of, making me salivate as I read them one by one and making it harder for me to decide with what to get, Amici's description was just one liner and basically just described the content or the ingredient of the dish. Pollo Arrostito-Baked rosemary half chicken with veggies. Lasagne Al Forno-Creamy-lasagna in meat sauce. Boooorrrriiing!!!

When the meal arrived, both of us were just quiet. The food did not look tasty at all. There was no food presentation either. Hiya nga ako kay Elmer e. I have been asking him kasi to treat me there since it opened in Morato so I guess he already had high expectations with it. Plus palagi pang puno ng diners, so the food must really be good. Frankly, it was not. We were disappointed big time. We did not enjoy a bit of our food and that was really sad.


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How's the 4 mo. old baby?

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One thing I love about staying at home (for the meantime) is the pleasure of witnessing the developments of my little sweetheart.

Migo is now four months old and he keeps on exploring, exploring, exploring!!! He does not settle until he masters what he wants to do.

Last week until today, here are the moves he's been wanting to perfect:


lying on his side


holding his toys for a few seconds




joining his feet together


Makes me one proud momma!!

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Super Migo and all his hospitalizations

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A! You're Adorable... B! You're so Beautiful... C! You're so Cute and full of
Charm...


I am fond of singing this to Migo. I have been singing this to him since he
was in my womb. I also have a nursery rhyme CD and I would play this particular
track over and over. D! You're a Darling... E! you're Exciting... F! you're a Feather In My Arm...

Every meaning of the alphabet song fits so dearly to Migo. Everytime he hears
this song, and everytime I sing along with my animated voice, he would stop, a
pair of happy huge eyes would stare at me, and a big smile and continous laughter
will fill the air. G! you're so Good to me... H! you're so Heavenly... I! you're the one I Idolize...

I! you're the one I Idolize... this I dedicate to my little sweetheart. I idolize him for his bravery. He taught me that despite pain, despite the trials, everything will be alright. After the storm, we shall stand up, smile, and move on. Smile and be happy.

June - He was barely two months old when he had fever due to UTI. He was confined
for seven days at Philippine's Children Medical Center. That week was the longest
week of my life. I could not bear to see him being inserted with a needle, only to be
reinserted after a couple of hours because the vein would give up. I dread the ordeal of going to the Treatment Room for a reinsert. He would cry so loudly, would stare at me as if asking for help and mercy, and there I was, holding his legs para hindi sya maglikot. Natatakot ako na baka isipin nya kasama ako sa nagbibigay sa
kanya ng sakit, so after the ordeal, I would hurriedly carry him and give him the
tightest embrace possible to assure him that I was there for him. Amazingly, he would stop in an instant and be back to his normal bubbly self, as if there was no dextrose attached to him, as if there was no pain. This happened everyday, for seven days.

A week after, we went back to Dra. Sonia Gonzales, his nephrologist, for a follow-up
check up. Upon checking his birdie, the nephro and I noticed a bulge on the groin's
upper right area.

July - Hernia. The bulge was suspected to be hernia which was common to infants
that were born earlier than the due date. Migo was only 36months when he arrived.
Hernia can be corrected by a simple surgery. Sur-ge-ry!!! He was only two months
old when he had his first.

August - We were still not cleared with his UTI, we still had to find out what's causing it so to totally avoid another episode. His nephrologist advised us to have him undergo VCUG so to track the cause. We scheluded him for the procedure to be
held in UST. Dr.Bolong, the urologist, gave an orientation first before proceeding.
Pain was still in the picture, for a gadget that was almost as thin as a needle was
inserted to the penis of Migo. I was there all throughout to again hold his legs. I expected the stare I tried to avoid- that stare asking for help and mercy. After two minutes, we were done. He again was back to his jolly and cheerful attitude, forgetting what just happened. VCUG's result told us that not all of his urine was coming out and that caused the UTI.

September - We were back again at PCMC's operating room. He was scheduled
for a cystoscopy and a circumcision. Cystoscopy would trace if there was a
blockage in his urethra, causing the urine to not totally go out. If there was something blocking the urethra, he would be scheduled for another surgery. Good thing there was none, THANK GOD!! He just underwent early circumcision for the skin on the outermost part of the penis might be the culprit of the UTI.

I was having dilemma on how I would manage Migo after the circumcision. How
am I going to carry him? How would I change nappy? What will I do if he cries endlessly due to pain? Surprise, surprise!! He was not at all displaying any discomfort, and in fact, when he woke up, he gave me a huge smile and a happy stare. And he was so playful all throughout the day. Again, as if nothing happened to him.

I trully admire my little sweetheart. He had all these experiences so early with ease. I believe he deserves to be called my Super Migo.