The one with the 2nd birthday

It was such a blessed day. We celebrated her birthday the day after her actual bday last feb. 21. (almost everybody greeted us on the 22nd, hihi) anyway, we had a blast! and i felt so much love surrounding our daughter, kaka-blessed talaga. :) anyway, for a backgrounder, ever since talaga, even before i started with partyboosters, simon and i agreed that we'd only spend for first birthdays lang talaga for personal reasons. and when i started being a party planner, there have been thoughts of throwing a party for her kahit simple lang. but i don't know, for some reasons, that thought did'nt prevail. there was even a time when simon wanted a jollibee party for simone but i still said no (kahit na parang gusto ko din, hehe) and you know, i think we made a good decision. Not that we don't want to celebrate with our friends too, but the family time that we had was so much fun. And i felt like it was really a family bonding time, which made it more special.

The day started with attending church. Of course, we had to give thanks for the two years of her life and how she has grown so much. :) In fairness, behave sya nung service. hehe. :) katuwa. after that, simon had to attend the second service so we went home again to rest a little and wait for him, then we fetched him na, passed by the lechon first and then,checked in na.

Our first blessing happened when we checked in. We checked in a little late, we arrived around 245pm. The receptionist checked our reservations and since all 1br suites have been filled already, our reservation was upgraded to a 2-br suite! aint that nice!? at first, i thought i heard her wrong. i was trying to ignore what i heard but at the back of my mind, while we were on the elevator, i was hoping it'd be a 2br suite. and voila, it really was! winner talaga! hahaha. God is so good. Backgrounder on the reservations: I had a voucher I paid for 350.00. and the voucher is a 3k net with breakfast for two to a 1br suite. so it's more like a 50% off deal. but with the upgrade that we had, i can't help but be thrilled that from an 8k room, it's just 3k! yey!




While appreciating the view and the room, I started taking out all the party items. hehe, not that much and sorted out the goodies for her lootbags (of course, there's lootbags!) simone just played the whole time, she enjoyed the room so much she kept on running to and fro. kaloka! simon had to buy some things pa like water, ice cream so good thing there's a mini-stop beside Linden. so anyway, the food arrived at 330pm. we ordered from CCME which is becoming a favorite. i love their food and it's reasonably priced i must say. :)



another blessing was when simone's cake arrived. when emily texted me that she will be the one to do simone's cake (actually, it's a covenant already..haha, that she'll do simone's cakes until she's 18), i did'nt expect there'd be lots of cupcakes in tow with the cake. super sweet emily! grabe feeling namin may kiddie party kme sa dami ng cupcakes! hahaha. there were like 40 and we were only 15 in the room. hahaha. thank you, thank you for being such a friend mare! muah!




our families arrived at 6pm. Jane, Justin and Oliver arrived earlier since they wanted to take a swim at the indoor pool. we had so much fun just eating (pigging out), stuffing ourselves, chatting and watching the kids (simone and justin) play. it's that simple but you'd be surprised how even without a formal program, masaya pa rin. hehe. siguro when you really spend time with your family, nothing can really beat that. :)

our families took home one lootbag and one stuffed toy each. stuffed toy for their car and lootbags for sweets. the lootbags consisted of chocolates and candies that simone loves. hehe. but they took home tons of cupcakes kasi super dami talaga. i think each went home with more than 3 cupcakes. :)


here's the only thing i managed to do for my baby. hehe. i wanted to do balloons pa inside the room but thought the mylar will do the trick. hahaha.

and here are some of our pictures:

of course, terno kme. hehe

outfits by Dresscode. :) design by yours truly

she successfully blew out the candle light the 3rd time. winner! simon was able to catch it in video.

while watching tv

fermin family (sayang i forgot to take group pics)

our little prince justin and mommy jane

battle of the fattest este fittest pala (fermin vs. tan haha)

and then here are a couple of pics from the pool the following morning:

It was really a fun and special day. Thank you Lord for everything. Thank you that you have given us the privelege of being parents, thank you for giving us a very lovable daughter who's not so hard to raise, thank you for all of your blessings, thank you for we know that you hold her future too. :)

And to you Simone, may you always feel the love that people around you have for you. Use this love to love other people as well. May you grow knowing and loving our God and may you always be that malambing baby we love. We love you so much!

Oh and can i just say im so glad i didnt bring my laptop with me, at least wasnt tempted to surf or read netbooks. haha, such a waste of time for a hotel stay. :)

The one with birthday preparations

Yey! My Simone will have her mini-celebration on Sunday, Feb. 22. I ordered food na to be delivered sa Linden Suites on Sunday. I got Beef Lasagna, Beef lengua, pork bbq, chicken relleno, young corn with quail eggs (ok we need to be healthy eaters right so there's your veggie, haha), lechon from Sabroso, Paella simon ordered from his officemate (who apparently cooks really good paella) and cake and cupcakes from sugarbox and dippin' dots ice cream for dessert. (hey, she does'nt have a party so all i could give her is good lovin' ice cream! haha)

I called the toll free of Linden suites to confirm our booking. My sister in law, in her excitement, bought her son a complete swimming wardrobe and all the works. hahaha. i love my sister in law, super game sa lahat! so im excited to buy some stuff for simone too. her swimsuits don't fit her anymore.

Tomorrow naman, I'll bask the busy Manila to buy items for her party such as giveaways and some party stuff. :)

The one with health buff

For the past weeks, I notice that my husband has been trying to be more inclined with being more fit and healthy. And along with that, he has been constantly persuading (yes, convincing is not applicable anymore) me to be attached with healthy lifestyle too. no, he's not yet vegetarian but i have to say it's giving him more benefits ha. He's been drinking wheatgrass (and selling them too, hehe), always asking for vegetables for dinner, and always warning me whenever i have chocolates by my side or junk food. (classic example is the big pack of tortillos im munching now. hehe, bad cheetah!) i won't be surprised if one day he'll ask me to buy Solo Slim supplements in the net and convince me to go to the gym. hehe.

I have my step counter naman e, but unfortunately, i don't reach the 10,000 steps a day. hahaha.

The one with family lovin' time

We had a wonderful day yesterday! Such a great time spending with my two babies. nothing beats a monday day-off. hahaha. after running some errands, we went to the mall, strolled, shopped for some things, ate out, rode the carousel then headed for another mall to get these rush family shots. ahehe.

yes, we're wearing the coolest shirts ever. hahaha. if you're ok with attention, go grab these nice shirts! :)

baby shirt says, "I have a cool mom and dad". mommy's says, "The Cool Mom". daddy's says, "The Cool Dad" hehe, kulit!

while waiting for daddy, here are some cutie shots. :)

wala syang hilig sa picture...

The one with adjective-noun

It's not too long when we first heard simone used the adjective-noun principle. while looking at her books, she suddenly pointed and said, "mommy, red kikel (red circle daw). hehe. and just a while ago, when i fetched her from my mom's house, she pointed at the two fans in the living room and said, "white fan" "gin fan (green fan)" we were simply amazed. winner ito! hahaha. sabi ko talaga, "anak, magiging honor student ka talaga!" hahaha, ipressure daw ba?!

but last night, i had a different kind of surprise! while she was sleeping and i was watching tv beside her, she suddenly sat down and pointed at something and mumbled, "mommy, mommy, mommy" i thought she was up but when i looked at her eyes, she was still sleeping. nyahaha. she was sleeptalking! i just laid her down again and she stopped talking. she did it again at 5am. hehe.

so syempre, was so worried it might be a psychological thing, i surfed and found out that there's nothing to worry about except that you'd really have to be really careful, house-wise like if you have high beds, change it to lower ones and always close the door. hay. kapraning! i also learned that it's hereditary. she might have gotten it from my mom who used to clean the house during sleep. ano ba?! hahaha.

The one with before she turns two

Hay, so before i get teary-eyed again, i'd post some pics of our not-so-baby simone before she turns two. :)

so syempre, she's fond of accessories too like mommy. she went to my box and got these out and tried everything on. kakagigil! :)

and then she also "borrowed" mommy's glasses after she "accidentally" broke the aviation glasses. huhuhu.

and this is her model pose. i know, bad lighting pero promise, super cute! hahaha. as in pag sinabi namin na "model pose", she'll do that. haha.

Before she turns two, here's a brief account of her milestones:
~ she counts 1 to 10. i forgot when she learned this exactly but she just surprised us one day and recited 1 to 10. actually she knows up to 14 na but can't memorize it yet. hehe, ipressure daw ba?!
~she knows her alphabets na! winner talaga. she does'nt memorize the song coz she knows two alphabet songs pero cant memorize the whole thing yet. but ask which letter is which, carry nya. :)
~ thus, she can spell already :)
~ she forms 4-word sentences like "mommy, come watch tv" nyahaha, patay tayo dyan!
~ i think we're welcoming the terrible two stage quite early with her. she throws tantrums more often esp when she's sleepy na but does'nt want to sleep yet. grrhh.
~ she loves to paint, color, draw and doodle. she can write number one already. eh hello, isang line lang kasi yun e. haha.
~ she loves driving "pano drive si daddy?" "eeehhhh...pi-peep!"
~ she has this habit of checking our doors if it's locked. "mommy, door?", "ate, door"
~ for a 2 year-old, many say she did'nt pass the bulol stage. parang articulate na daw agad magsalita si simone. :)
~ she forms adjective-noun already like "gin (green) ki-kel (circle)" o diba? may ganun?! haha
~ she loves little einstein and spongebob already. move over barney! finally, nag-graduate din kay barney
~ she sings more songs now but again, she only sings the last words of a line. hehe
~ she has a very good memory with notes and tunes of songs. even without the lyrics, she can identify a song and make the action out of it. :)
~ she poses even when no one is asking her. hehe.
~ she loves books. (yey) and she loves it when i teach her our lessons. as in, nag eenjoy sya when she sees me holding my stick and pointing the numbers and the alphabets.
~ have to buy her a whole set of shoes kasi nothing fits her feet anymore.

i love you baby! can't wait for you to turn 2 next week. as for our mini-celebration, we're holding it at the room we're gonna use in linden suites. :) got a voucher which is a good deal too. we've invited our families to join us. of course there's a theme! hehe. kahit naman small gathering, may theme pa din and it's ELMO this year! yey! she's totally into elmo so im sure she'll love it. :) cake and cupcakes will be provided by emily uy as usual. naka-kontrata na kasi yun e. hehe, labor of love! dessert buffet by my SIL, sweetbite. :) winner talaga! food, thinking of ordering from sabroso (lechon) pero per kilo lang. hehe. and two viands from CCME, and might cook a little pa depends. Give-aways and lootbags bibili pa lang ako. hahaha. may ganun pa rin?!

The one with our balikbayans

Yey! Jason and Naan stayed here in Manila for a three-week vacation. We're so happy we were able to meet up twice. hehe. it would have been three times but we can't find time na on the third meet up. anyway, we had lots of fun catching up and "processing" each other's lives. haha, it's been a routinary topic for us i notice. when i and my childhood friends meet up, it would always be something like updating each other of our developments as a family, as a married couple (all of us are married already, two of us have kids) and will eventually lead to processing if what you're doing should be what you're really doing. hahaha, parang seminar noh? but it's good. at least i have a circle of friends whom i can share things like those.

From left to right: moi, jill, chess and naan (i think out of us four, i'm in dire need to buy diet pills) hahaha.

Thanks Jason and Naan for the pizza treat! see you next time! we love you guys!

The one with hearts and a cake

Yes, Valentine's is just around the corner. We might do our thing the day before like we always used to do. hehe. im sure the traffic will just be as bad coz it will fall on a saturday...hehe. and i have to work on saturday pa and have one more meeting. yeah, yeah, yeah...

So should i be giving my husband a gift? cast your vote please...it wont be anything like polar watches or another gadget he's drooling for, might just be another addition to his wardrobe na lang. he really needs a makeover you know. hahaha.

I think more than heart's day, im more excited on simone's 2nd birthday. waah! wait, i think the term excited should be replaced with let's say, emotional. harhar. i can't believe in two weeks time, i'll have a 2year-old already. we won't be throwing her a party that's for sure. haha. it will just a simple family gathering and we'll check in at a hotel near ortigas so we could just relax for a whole day and enjoy each other. im sure simone will love swimming in a BIG tub! (aka swimming pool) haha.

so, what have i been preparing for her bday? will post it on my next entry. hehe