The one with six?!

It was sudden but I felt like we were just both waiting for the "right" time. After nine months, i'd have to let go of our yaya. Well, I wont go into details anymore but we need one soon! Well, simone is an easy baby naman and since she's nine months old already, taking care of her is pretty much easier now compared when she was younger and more fragile. haha.

So, if you know anyone who can work for us, please let me know.

Okay, more of Simone now...would you believe she has six teeth already?! as in! in a matter of a month, she has grown 6 teeth already. 4 have torn the gums already and two are on its process. man! ang bilis naman ata ngayon. haha. we think that's the reason why she had a slight fever the other day, more of dental reasons and not her allergic rhinitis. (i hope)

Here are some of her developments now.
1. She's 31 inches already and 8.9 kilos! man, my back is killing me already. hehe.
2. She loves Barney, we watch it everyday and she really watches everytime i play the video. as in she smiles and laughs when she sees barney and when she hears the wrap-up theme song, she really smiles as if wanting to sing with barney.
3. She adores Jollibee! She first recognized Jollibee when she was just 8 months. at such a young age, i cannot recall any other babies who are like that and of course im proud of my baby but at the same time im amaze of how jollibee can really attract kids and even babies! How a big red smiling bee can light up a child's face. and whenever we pass by any jollibee branch, we'd have to stop and look at jollibee and hold its hand as if shaking its hand. my goodness, jollibee is like a shrine to kids! there was never a time that we did'nt have other kids waiting for us to be finished with our jollibee visit so they could hold its hand and have a picture taken. grabe! i'am sooo amazed. one of the best marketing strategies i know!
4. She does the bye-bye, clapping, (8 mos) and make faces to people and imitate other people's facial actions. :)
5. She's less "nangingilala" now
6. She sits up with very minimal support. when sitting with back supported like on a sofa, effortless yun.
7. She stands straight with our hands on her underarms
8. She walks really fast when "ginagabay" and faster when in her walker.
9. She recognizes an airplane and knows where to look for it, and also a bird.
10. Sometimes in the morning, as soon as she wakes up, we can hear her babbling or should i say trying to sing. may tono kasi e. kakatuwa.
11. She still loves to go out, be it in a mall, in front of the house, or kahit saan. she's super gala!
12. We both love baby sling wearing! i now wear her with a hip carry. katuwa. i still get different reactions from strangers but i'm used to it. :)
13. Of course, she still loves the camera
14. She now knows how to pick her nose! eewww!
15. She gets irritated when her hair gets messed up by wind esp. when she's sleepy na.

oh well, so much for my baby's developments! looking forward to more days with you simone! we love you!

Surveys

I'm currently doing a market research now on fragrance preferences of women, specially those ranging from 20 to 35 years old. With my business partners, I have met with them a couple of times already when they proposed the said concept to me. I was caught with excitement and interest on it since the concept was really unique and with great potential. And we are now conducting surveys to make sure that we are on the right track.

The one with on fire

I'm on my blogging fire tonight! I was able to tuck simone to sleep early so I had more time to do some blogging. hehehe. so wazzup?! today was supposed to be our first day at our bangkok trip but since we're pretty much busy (please remind me again never to book on nearing holiday dates) we decided to rebook our much-awaited trip on february next year, after simone's first birthday. we thought it was a better schedule since it's kinda celebrating our 10th anniversary as a couple (from bf-gf time) and simone just turned one by then. :)

So, speaking of simone turning one, I have yet to really decide on the venue. my goodness, i have already booked a photographer and her cake, but we still don't have a venue for her birthday. so please help me on this one...here are my choices

1. CVJ clubhouse
Pros: people we've invited to her dedication already knew the place so finding it may not be an issue anymore; love the ballroom. it's perfect for her theme; i can get tiffany chairs if there are no other functions on the day.

Cons: it's on the 3rd floor; menu starts at 330/head which is a little pricey; i get the "wala na bang iba feeling?" hahaha. here's a pic


nice diba?!

2. North greenhills
Pros: actually, not really sure if this is the one near robinson's galleria, but just the same i'll check it out next week. 5k only, same price as that of cvj; location is more accessible to guests.

Cons: hmm, have'nt seen it yet so no comment muna.

3. Valle verde clubhouses
Pros: location
Cons: hmm, pricey! need for sponsors and bad trip!

4. St. Ignatius clubhouse
Pros: 4k for residents, and 5k for non-residents; no need for sponsors; ganda entrance; nice and spatious
Cons: mejo kakaligaw yung one-way ng subdivision; hmm, poor lighting (white lights lang) although dali lang naman ayusin yun.

i've pencil booked st. ignatius and cvj already so i have to decide next week before they cancel my pencil booking. so there, and let the venue hunt begins!

The one with moments with daddy

As the old saying goes, "if you can't beat them (her), join them (her)!"


love seeing them together, it's like simone is a mini-me but a little Simon at the same time.

The one with Ronald

Her first birthday party was a Mc Donald party of Theone (arianne and art's bunso) at Makati Cinema square. she had fun although since the party was at 6pm and we were late, she was sleep on the latter part of the program.


enjoying the party with daddy!


my UST friends


before we even say goodbye to Ronald...picture muna!

The one with celebrating 9 months

Yes, I've carried her for a little more than nine months and after nine months since she came to our lives, here she is now, more than what we hoped and prayed for.


At Max's, she has learned her "bye-bye" sign already. cuteness!


feeling comfy on her high chair


candid shot i got from them...well, since my baby is a photo addict, she still looked. haha.


"me, a princess?!?!?!" bought wands and crowns at richwell sale, i can use them for simone's bday and now she's practicing. although forgive her not so smiling attitude, she just came from colds and slight fever.

love you Francesca Simone!

The one with SM Taytay

Went to the new mall last Nov. 18 (sunday) ng mabinyagan naman ang bagong mall ng rizal. hahaha. in fairness, i love the interior and the stores. very sosyal. it consists of two buildings, one for the stores and the other one for cinema and other recreation thingy. it was another gimmick night for simone since we just came to the mall so simon can at least say he had a weekend to spend since he was so busy he can't even enjoy his weekends with us.


christmas colors pala kme with baby on my sling...really love it!


mommy and baby moment...at the department store. hahaha.


"pa-order!" while waiting for our order at pizza hut

Computer intruder

I was shocked to find early this week that my ads in the site had adult photos which were not supposed to be posted at all. I was supposed to cancel the ads and erase it from my blog but it was gone the following day. I wish I had a popup blocker that could easily detect any spam or destroy pop-up advertising that are not needed at all.

The one with fruits of my labor

Eight pounds...the fruits of my labor, the gain of my pain! hahaha. I weighed in the other night and found out that I already shed 8 lbs in a month. Not bad! I was scared to even try to weigh coz I might be disappointed of finding out if I did'nt lose a pound. Good thing, I lost naman kahit papano. And I'm back with eating veggies which hopefully would make me do it for two more months.

~0~
Simone is 9 months already! She had her regular check-up last Nov. 21 and had her measles shot. She has three teeth already with one more coming out. She can do her "bye-bye" sign already which we confuse with her "close-open" sign. haha. she makes faces and she adores Jollibee so much, and Barney also.

To celebrate, we went to eat out at Max's and she had her first Starbucks experience when I met up with my former officemates. haha. cute baby! laboy talaga!

Of course, the traditional cake will never be forgotten. although a little late this time since we joined it with our monthsary, she still had her cake. we had a Dexter's chocolate chip cake which was not that good by the way. haha.

~0~
I love surprises...and Simon knows this. Last night, he surprised me with this...


Proteus Cycle Magnetic Bike (he got the silver one for me)

I'm sooo touched! see, I'm really trying to be serious on this trimming down and he's very supportive to buy me this! super shocked talaga ako. actually, he claims that this is my monthsary/christmas/new year gift already. hahaha. he told me he was supposed to enroll me in a gym but he hesitated since he knew that I might not have enough "push" to go to the gym regularly. hehe. love you beh and thanks!

~0~
Simone had a return of the comeback allergic rhinitis the other day. huhuhu. and a slight fever came along with it last night. For two nights, I had half-wide awake sleeps since simone was kinda clingy and needy when she's sleeping. now, she's more okay. she has less colds, and no fever already. thank God.

Concert tickets

We love watching concerts and it's too bad we missed the Beyonce concert since we were'nt able to plan it very well. See, we've spent already for our much-awaited Bangkok trip and we hope we'd be able to fly this month, but since our schedules would'nt allow it, we'd have to rebook it and it means additional charges. Not seeing Beyonce was the same feeling we had when we were'nt able to get Hannah Montana tickets. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be a next time for everything.

The one with the Rule of 8

Thanks Maybelle for the tag! napaisip tuloy ako ng random facts about myself. haha.

THE RULES

* write 8 facts about yourself

* in the 8 facts, you share 8 things that your readers don't know about you. at the end, you tag as much other bloggers to keep the fun going. each blogger must post these rules first

* each blogger starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves

* at the end of the post, a blogger needs to choose as much people to get tagged and list their names.

* don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they're tagged and to read your blog

8 random facts about jacque:

1. I have a complete collection of FRIENDS VCD. I love it so much that I still watch it everyday, to the point that I already know the script. The addiction that comes along with it is a purchase of a collector's item of Friends book. haha. That is why all my posts start with "The one with..."

2. I'am into dieting now. It's one month already and 90% of what I eat compose of vegetables and fruits. I really need to trim down. It's a surprise that I was able to go thry the 21-day formation of habit that they say. But sadly, I'm starting to get bored with eating just salad. hehe. need my support system!

3. I'm a BS Psych graduate but working background is purely in Marketing. did'nt even get a chance to practice Psychology.

4. I never thought I'd resign from a fulfilling work to be with my baby more. And I never regret my decision. It's one of the best decisions I've made. Although, honestly, I don't know if this is permanent. As of now, we're looking at this set-up until Simone is a year old.

5. If I have the money, I'd love to travel and explore other countries.

6. I love cheesecakes!!! Always a fan!

7. I'm a lefty at handwriting but was right-handed when I was five years old. My aunt taught me to write on my left and I loved it more. haha.

8. I was elected Muse when I was in Grade 5 and my competitor was no less than Ara Mina who was Hazel Reyes then. hahaha. Im not pretty but you know how it is when you were younger when everything is barkada system so since i've lot of friends...I won! hahaha.

there, im tagging pinky, and jacq!

Online shopping

Been contemplating for a while whether to do some online shopping for some of our christmast gifts or not. Some of the items are just so hard to resist since they are all discounted at very nice rates. And now that I can't easily go out since I'm always with my baby, I find it more practical to do some of this online.

I'm thinking of getting gap coupons for our dads. At least, they'll be the one to check which ones will fit. For our mommies, was thinking of giving them old navy coupons since they've recently launched nice mommy shirts that will go well with them

I'll think of the other items next. In the meantime, I might have to purchase this already.

Enjoying her ride

I just have to post this coz she really looks nice in her walker. she loves it so much, she walks fast already. and we can easily put her there while we do some household chores. here are some cutie pics! pardon her hairdo, she just got out of the bed there.




showing off her "just came out tooth"


"mommy, this is my mataray look!"

Specific budget

Just when we have started planning this birthday, Simon already gave me a very specific budget for the special occasion. I need to make it feasible. Even when we were preparing for our wedding, I never used the word tight budget. It's always specific or practical. It's because I know we are blessed to be able to celebrate her birthday with needed resources, we just have to practically allot something that will not make it look like it's her debut already. hahaha. so, there, a simple birthday will do.

so, simon opened a checking account where we can put our savings for Simone's birthday and just issue checks when we pay suppliers. That way, I don't have carry cash all the time and be tempted to buy unnecessary items for her. haha. typical me.

The one with here we go again

And so the birthday preparations has started. I've met with Emily last Thursday to discuss Simone's cake. We got excited. This time we'll do cupcakes with different princess-themed designs. We'll have cupcakes with shoes, gowns, disney princesses, and castles as designs. I asked her to use solid colors, the darker ones and not the babyish kind. hehe. i want it to be really colorful and use the colors of the disney princesses gowns. :) sooo excited. she asked me about the venue...i had nothing to answer. hahaha. i think at the back of my mind, i have CVJ to book just in case I dont find something i like (read: budget)

~0~
As part of my surfing for simone's birthday needs, I found these nice-to-haves items for her birthday, which I hope to find in Divi when i go shopping. :)


cake plates..nice noh?!


mylar balloons which im sure id have to order somewhere.


love this! im sure I can DIY this. :)


loot chests??? whoa!

there, more ideas to come. oh i really hope i'd get to do some of these. hehe. but first, i gave myself next week to book the venue so we can start working on the invitations already. DIY syempre! :)

all for you baby...

Information overload

I could'nt believe it that my 1G external hard drive was already full. I was in a meeting last monday and was supposed to transfer a file for our reference. Was surprised to see that she can't save it to my drive since no space is available. It's either 1G is just a small memory already or we really have a lot of files. Aside from that, Simon has one too with 50G memory. I might just transfer some of my files to his.

With all the projects we have at hand, I need this all the time.

The one with Aliya's dedication

Last saturday, Nov. 10 was Simone's first time to attend a dedication and our first time to host one. haha. caught there by surprise but all for Aliya, it was nothing. We usually host weddings or church events, but first time for a child dedication. Welcome to the christian world aliya!


Cora neighbors, Unit J before, Unit A, and Unit C!


the Lam sisters...pati si belle may baby na rin?! ang laki agad!


Pastor Ed Bacani officiating the ceremony

Office room

We had to declutter the other room to give room for our computer set-up and Simon's keyboard set-up, so when we had to do rush projects, we can work simultaneously and not wait for each other's turn. So what we did was bought an HDMI splitter so we can connect both out cables there and be able to work together. It was pretty pricey but we thought it was the only practical thing to do, and we're right.

The one with Lan-Lan's wedding

Last sunday, Nov. 11 was the wedding of a good friend Lan-lan. See, he's been a close friend since we were teens and specially with the Tans, he's more like an adopted son to them. So seeing him marrying last sunday was pretty emotional for all of us. We were happy that he's settling down to a lady whom he's been with for a long time already. And I got emotional coz when I looked at him that day, he was really tense and nervous. But when he saw his bride, it's as i f everything was okay already, like he was waiting for her to come and be by his side. It was precious, i could'nt help it. Jasper, the bride, is a dear friend too. One thing I love about weddings is how the couple, amidst the program and the guests around them, can act as if they're the only two people in the world. they don't really care nor worry, just to be with each other is the only thing they wanted. haayy... here are a couple of pictures.


The whole Tan family


nakalimutan kong mag-inhale dito ha. hahaha

The one with the same gown???

Hahaha...I just have to post about this since this is my first time to wear an entourage gown twice. First time when I was 6.5months pregnant and second was just last sunday. Thanks to my ever-reliable MIL, she had to redo the gown and alter it twice to fit my size. naks! feeling payat na. haha.


first time to wear the gown..grabe, soo preggy!


siguro naman may difference noh?! hahaha. kasi kung wala, im gonna die! drama!

The one with a tag

This one came from Rhea. thanks rhea, nakalikot ko rin wallet ko and realized how much trash i have inside it. hahaha.


A worn out Mango wallet i bought from my friend


some of the pics inside and a Starbucks planner promo

What's inside:
Cards (for security purposes, didnt post it na lang..hehe, feeling!)
~ Old and new company IDs, ATM card, 2 credit cards (1 active and 1 display purpose lang), driver's license, Shell fleet card, Insurance card of me and Simon's, SM Advantage card, Laking National Card, Sta. Lucia Discount Card, RCBC promo card
~ lots and lots of receipts
~ lots of calling cards from clients
~ Starbucks promo card for planner 2008
~ Bank transaction slips
~ NBI clearance receipts

literally no cash inside...hahaha...just coins! Alms, alms, alms, spare me a piece of bread... bwahaha

It's your turn hot mommas, I'm tagging Lea, Mec, and Cathy.

Christmas feel

Since it's starting to get colder now and we can enjoy longer nights, I decided to check out some clothes for the season. I went to my haven clothes shop so we can have nice outfits for Christmas. I saw this nice North Face jacket and thought of buying it for Simon. It's a good buy since it's almost 80% off from the prices you see at their shops, although I did'nt buy it since the material is really thick and best only for really winter places.

Might try again on other shops this weekend. Happy christmas shopping!

The one with two front teeth

Took this pic just this morning. Her two front teeth are really out and her upper incising tooth is also coming out...all at the same time! whoa! and I'm proud of my baby coz she did'nt get sick. She got a little cranky specially when her gums are really swollen but only when she's sleeping did she get cranky. When she's up, she does'nt care at all. haha.


Congrats Simone!

The one with almost a month now

I'm on my third week of eating just leaves. hahaha. but i'm so happy people are noticing the results. i have'nt checked my scale yet, but just the same i can feel that i lost weight. Bulges at my back kinda thinned, I have more waist now and I feel like my face got a little smaller. When my friends whom i have'nt seen for a while finally see me, they noticed that I'm back to my pre-preg weight daw and that no one will ever think that I have a daughter. naks! how i wish di lang sila mangungutang sa ken at totoo lahat yun. hahaha.

But whether true or not, I'm just happy that I've accomplished something great. Being able to discipline myself for almost a month is something Im proud of. I really like to eat but now, I'm really decided to get serious with slimming down. haha. so for those interested to know my regimen, here it is.

Breakfast:
1 hard-boiled egg
salad all you want (lettuce, cucumber, grated carrots, lots of cheese, kernel corn and caesar dressing)
*if you dont have hard-boiled egg, you can try bread or crackers.
coffee

Lunch:
Cereal
Salad

Dinner
Salad

yes...walang kamatayang salad it is. haha. but if i'm really getting bored with what i eat, i just drink iced tea or eat something else...except for rice or anything sweet. no junk food, iced tea na ang pinaka-sweet ko.

Every Sunday...it's my rest day. i can eat anything i want as much as i want to. but apparently, i dont eat much pa rin, tama lang. but if i want ice cream or cake, this is the best time to indulge. hehe.

i'm not saying that im slim na ha, i just lost weight and maybe you might want to try it. :)

The one with panic mode

It's only four months until Simone's first birthday and I'm kinda in a panic mode already...but still manageable. Simon and I have decided to work on a Disney Princesses theme so we'd easily get the paraphernalia we need, we can use a lot of elements like cinderella, snow white, ariel and more. I got pretty much excited when we came up with the theme. I was choosing between that and Sesame Street actually but we love the Disney princess more. (although i love elmo!)

Anyway, so far, here are what's on my mind. With a very, very limited budget, I hope i can execute everything according to plan.
~ I was thinking of having a crown-shaped invitation or a wand-shaped one with fur on its sides. The front part will show the details and map at the back. OR I can also do a scroll-type invite but I don't think it's fun to do or colorful at least. haha.
~ Was also planning on going to Divi to sort some items for the party.
~ I also dream to have treasured chests for loot bags, instead of the usual bags. or bags shaped like chests. haha. my goodness, how will i be able to do all these?
~ Then, I like every table to be thematic, more like Cinderella table with bits and pieces of the elements (shoes, pumpkin, prince, etc) or Ariel table (little mermaid theme)
~ OR have corresponding areas for every disney princess. But I dont think I can do this. haha.
~ Cake of course will be done by emily uy.
~ i like drapes, red carpet, and crowns for the kids
~ i like them to do their own crowns, for the craft part. and they'd get to wear it during picture-taking or the whole event if they want to
~ theme songs of disney princesses "Someday my prince will come", "A whole new world", "Part of your world", etc. with some parts where simon will mix simone's babbling with it, as if she's singing the song. (just like the music mix he did. haha)
~ motiff, pink and purple is nice. :) but it's not yet final. parang dull tingnan e.

Oh well, so much so for my dream birthday party. But I hope I'd get to execute some of it. Wish me luck!

The one with leggings

She's a big girl na...this outfit was given to her by her grannies, momsy and popsy. haha. the blouse is soo nice with all the bling-blings on it and they bought her a nice pair of leggings (which is a little big pa but nice) and i matched it with her clear kikay sandals (which i've been wishing there's one my size)


"don't you wish you had the same sandals as well?!" soo nice!


nakabakat ang diaper, hehe. love her smiles!


i hope she got my feet...

~o~
Simone at her 8 months has been pretty amazing. To keep myself on-track, here are some of her developments:
~ Two weeks ago, she learned to clap! so cute! grabe! at first, she does'nt get to meet her hands at times but she knows the concept already. she claps when she's happy and when we show her to do so. But sometimes, she does'nt clap even if you do it in front of her. she has her own timing. swerte na lang if matyempuhan mo, haha. thus, it was difficult to video it. but i've managed to do one. unfortunately, i cant upload it in my PC. :(
~ i'm assuming she's also getting the baby sign language i've been teaching her. the catch is, im the only one doing it to her so she does'nt know how to sign it yet. It's the sign "more". and im not pressuring her to do it since i know she has a lot to learn pa from her surroundings.
~ She knows Jollibee already! Just the other day, Nov. 6, and she was on her yaya's lap, we stopped at Shell along c5 beside jollibee resto. while gassing up, my yaya and i noticed she was smiling at someone or something. then we looked back and saw the big Jollibee sign! hahaha. it was sooo cool! she giggled and shouted as if excited to see jollibee. We knew she was looking at jollibee coz i tried to drove around and really saw that she was staring at jollibee. haha. i think it's because of the tv ads and when we hear the theme song, we dance around her, so she got to know jollibee early. But she knows ronald as well. :-)
~ Two of our friends already told us that simone has this "nakakaloko smile". more like a "pilya smile".
~ She gets more active as days pass... as in!

Decorations

Just a while ago, I bought some stuff for Simone and just when I was about to pay, I saw a pile of Christmas decors just before the counter and ended up buying some for the house. They are so nice yet cheap.

I bought one silver christmas tree that I can hang on the door, two feather-style silver and white wreath that i can hang on the bedroom doors just beside the wall sconce. I think it will give more warmth in the hallway, better yet a nicer feel of Christmas at home.

I'am really excited for the holidays!