Sick again

Bela got sick again last week. One of her classmates has colds and so when she got home from school, she caught the virus too. Also, her youngest aunt, who is her playmate, has colds too so maybe she got the virus also from her.

She has high grade fever for one day and looks like she was really not feeling well as she was not active and she prefers to stay at our room and she kept on saying that she needs to rest. She even asked us to give her strawberry medicine (Paracetamol) so she will get well.

It is very rarely that she gets sick like this so every time she has fever, my husband and I are really panicking. Good thing that my mom and dad just lives near our place so they always come in to the rescue whenever we need help. And I am also thankful that we are equipped with baby supplies like a digital ear thermometer so we can always get a reliable reading of her body temperature every time she is sick. We always buy our baby supplies and medicines from Allegro Medical as they have a complete range of supplies for all our health and fitness needs like Blood Pressure Monitor, Bela’s milk and vitamin supply or even latex exam gloves. We even set an auto re order system so we will never fail to order our monthly supplies of vitamins and medicines not jut for Bela, but for ourselves too.

I am so glad that Bela is doing ok now. Hope she will not catch any virus again as it is really difficult for us parents to see our kid suffering from any illness.

Yaya got lost

Last week when we did our grocery in SM, we asked yaya to wait for us at the Bingo Center so we don’t have to bring our grocery item at the 3/F as we need to buy Bela’s toothpaste there. It only took us a maximum of 20 minutes to buy the toothpaste and so we were surprised when we went back to the Bingo Center at the ground floor and we didn’t find yaya there.

We went around SM for two hours and we even reported it to the Security of SM and they helped us look for yaya. It was already 9 PM and Bela was getting cranky already and we haven’t eaten our dinner yet so we decided that we will go home first so Howell can drop us at our house and eat dinner before he goes back looking for yaya again. We also left our contact number at the Security of SM so they can call us in case they find our yaya.

At around 9:30 PM, we received a call from SM’s Security officer to report to us that they already found our yaya. So Howell went back immediately to pick her up and we learned that she got lost looking for the Bingo Center.

Good thing Bela is with us and we didn’t leave her with our yaya. There was really never a time when we leave her alone with our nanny especially if we are out but it really gave me a wake up call that we should never ever leave her with our nanny. I am already imaging myself going crazy if ever Bela will get lost with our yaya.

We are thankful that nothing really bad happened to our yaya and I am also thankful that at least this incident gave us a good lesson that we should never trust our kids with our nanny especially if we are out.

Almost Fully Potty Trained

Bela is almost fully potty trained now. She always tells us when she needs to go to the bathroom to do #1. We only encountered a couple of accidents when we started to potty train her.

Then last month, we started to not let her wear her diapers during the night. We noticed that every time she needs to do #1 at night, she will ask me if she has a nappy and if she can make wee-wee there. So one day I told her that I won’t be putting on her nappy at night and she has to tell us if she wants to do # 1. And on the first night, it worked. She did # 1 before she went to sleep and we didn’t have any accidents since then.

Our only problem now is she still has to wear diapers every time she needs to do # 2. She doesn’t want to do it on her potty trainer and she prefers to do it standing up. Every time we asked her to sit down on her potty, she will tell us that it is too hard. But before she do # 2, she will ask us to put on her nappy as she needs to make pooh-pooh.

Oh well, I don’t want to pressure her. I know in time she will be fully potty trained. At least now I am already saving a lot because I only have to buy disposable diapers for her to do # 2.

Bela and her Granny

When I gave birth to Bela, my mom doesn’t want to hire a nanny to take care of Bela. She said that she will take care of Bela herself when it is time for me to go back to work after my maternity leave. So Bela really grew up with her grand mother. I remember there was even a time that Bela will prefer to sleep at her grandmother’s house than with us. So you can just imagine how close Bela and my mom is.

My mom’s birthday is coming soon and we wanted to give her something for her birthday as a sign of how thankful we are for helping us raise Bela. We are first time parents so I can’t imagine raising Bela without her.

My mom is a fashionable woman and so we are thinking of giving her Discount Jewelry. I found a site that offers a wide selection of exclusively designed jewelries that I am sure my mom will really love. What’s even better is that they are so affordable but it has high quality standards and since they are exclusively designed, I am sure that my mom will not find it in any retail store.

I am so excited already and so is Bela. I am sure Bela will be really happy seeing how excited my mom is when we give birthday present for her.

1st Day @ Baby Ballet

After being postponed for two consecutive Saturdays (the first time, she was not able to attend her trial class because she got sick and then for the second Saturday, there was no class because all the ballet instructors have out of town shows), finally Bela was able to attend her first Baby Ballet Class.

We arrived fifteen minutes earlier as we left the house early and so she was able to see the class before them. They are still not allowed to enter the ballet studio but Bela was watching from the window while the first class before them is on going. She even asked me if we can go inside as she was so excited already to join the class.

When its time for their class, I approached the ballet teacher to inform her that it is Bela’s first day. The teacher brought Bela in front so she can watch closely. And as soon as they started, Bela tried so hard to duplicate whatever her teacher is doing. Howell was even joking that maybe the reason why Bela got sick a few days after was because her joints and her tendons got stretched after the class.

We were watching from the back so I can’t really see her face, but when I saw the pictures, it really showed how concentrated Bela is in watching her teacher. Bela really had fun that she was able to finish the whole 1 hour class and she really did participate the whole time. She also was able to adjust with her new classmates and she approached them and tried to play with them.

After the class I asked her if she had fun and she quickly answered yes. I am glad that she is enjoying her ballet class. I hope she will develop a great love for ballet soon (sorry, frustration kse ng nanay. LOL).

You can view more pictures here.

Big Bang

When I and hubby decided to give ourselves additional security by securing life term insurance policies, the briskly solution I applied was thru the internet as its today’s simplest and most convenient means that gets the job done for us much easier than we expected.

Although as it may seem confusing from the start as the system was filled with glutting life insurance companies to pick for a choice, however it wasn’t that too long before I get connection to Wholesale Insurance site that abruptly punctuated the end up my cogent search.

The online wholesale insurance site proved to be the perfect source of information for the best term life quotes I need. From the 168 life term insurance companies in its list, it was narrowed down and filtered thru the prism of 25 best low cost life term insurance companies provider, providing additional data’s of information and expert services that helped me to get to know more of my preferred life insurance company’s financial strength and history.

Telegraphing a cushy low cost quote rates for life term insurance clients likes me is a landscape in which wholesale insurance is prized and praised for. With it whole basic objectives aim to lopped off the hassles that are bound to be encountered by all site’s visitors. Because it really helps in making the work done quick and easy, it only explains well why for 36 long years in the business, Wholesale Insurance network continues to fulminates the web circle always with the big bang!!!

Gospel Truth

Before I found refuge to diet pill, in the old days when I was a pictured of a chubby and hefty mother outlook, there were some memories that when I remembered stirred the ice of my calm and stately nature. Like for instance in some very very very occasional chance where hubby had tagged me along attending one of his social gatherings, whenever the ball dance was about to begin, it seemed always to be my partner alarmed clock that tells its time for us to left the scene. Sometimes there were also some occasions where I looked all of a sudden jarringly out of place.

But those were my old bad days, when trying to be slim hadn’t got into my senses yet. But when I started to include Anoretix, a very popular brand of diet pill in the market to my daily health regimen, I could really feel and see its slimming effect after some very few days. Its amazing clinically safe and revolutionary health friendly ingredients is a breakthrough that worked and blended well felicitously within my body system battling against my stubborn fats where changes and progress were afoot everyday was a gospel truth this diet slimming pill delivers. Free from any pragmatic elements that may jeopardize my health I continued my devotion to the pill and after weeks I could mirror a much more urbane and subtle outlook result had became increasingly visible keeping me passive and pampered.

Lo and behold, no amount of rhetorical phrases or words could describe my exceeding joys and great appreciation for the diet pill for giving me back my lost seductive figure that looked so hard to be ignored prompting hubby to always tag me in all his social gatherings and never seemed to get tired as we sing and dance together all night long till the party was over, just like the good old days.

Toddlers Unlimited's Family Day

Lat February 8, Toddlers Unlimited celebrated family with a day filled with fun activities for all the families. We met at the Animal Farm in Tagaytay Highlands around 9 AM. We were just in time even though we left a little late than what we initially planned. (Good thing Bela’s lolo is a great driver so we made it on time.)

For the first activity, all the families were divided into three groups so we can explore the farm in smaller groups. We first went to the Aquarium Cave, then to the Shetland Ponies, to the Orangutan, then to the Aviary and to the Tiger Enclosure. Bela really had fun as you know, she just loves animals.
Then all three groups met up at the camp stage where the facilitator gathered the team for a Scavenger’s Hunt. Then there was a face painting contest but we were not able to join the contest as we received our face painting kit when they have already chosen a winner for the face painting (kaya imbyerna ang lola kse gusto kareerin ang contest. LOL).
Before going out of the Animal Farm, there is an area there where kids can have an encounter with the snake and the parrots. And just look at Bela, she is really brave and she never got scared when the zoo keeper placed the giant python around her. She was even kissing it on the mouth.

After the activity at the Animal Farm, we are all asked to proceed at Camp Highlands for lunch but since we did not make a reservation for lunch and since we are all hungry already (since it is already 11:30) we just decided to go out of Highlands for lunch.

We had lunch at Josephine’s then we went to Sonya’s Garden after that as my brother wants to show my parents their reception venue for their wedding on April 2010. Then we went to our favorite horse back riding spot and Bela enjoyed riding the horse and the carabao with her dad and her tito.

Then we had merienda at our favorite resto, Bag of Beans. We are all so tired after one tiring day so we head home after that.You can view more pictures here.

Summer Activities 09 for Bela

I know it is just February but I already mapped the summer activities that we are planning for Bela. So before I look for an online store that sells corset, let me make a list here:

1. We already enrolled her to the Summer Program at Mind Specialists School.
* Reading Readiness (8:00 – 9:30) – this program let kids explore the reading fundamentals in lots of ways. This course develops important phonetic skills while building reading confidence, making reading a snap.
* Magic Strokes (10:00 – 11:30) – This program will give kids a notion that writing is easy and dun in a step-by-step stroke.

Her class at MSS will be from Monday to Friday, from April 15 to May 15, 2009.

2. I inquired at Halili Cruz for their summer program since we want Bela to continue with her ballet class this summer. I learned that during the summer class they have a Recital after the summer program so I got really excited and I am already imagining Bela during her first recital.

Unfortunately, their schedule for summer is either 2x a week (one weekday and one Saturday) or three times a week (every weekdays). And since she already has a class from Monday to Friday, I am not sure if Bela’s lolo will let us enroll Bela to the summer program of Halili.

3. If we will not enroll her to the summer program at Halili, we are thinking of enrolling her to the My Baby and Me class of Bert Lozada Swimming School at Ace Water Spa. Every summer we enroll her to this program and she really loves it so this will be a perfect activity for her this summer.

Looks like it will be a busy summer for Bela…..

Her First Star – Feb 6, 2009

Bela started attending the Galileo Enrichment Program being offered at Toddlers Unlimited last February. She had a trial when we came back from our Davao vacation and according to my mom, looks like Bela enjoyed it so we decided to enroll her to the English and Math Program.

Last February 6, they had an activity where Teacher Angelica asked Bela and her other classmate Patricia, to play a game where they will arrange the alphabet puzzles. Bela was successfully able to arrange all the letters in the puzzle and that is how she got her first big star.

My mom was telling me that as soon as she got her star, she went out of the Galileo room to look for her lola to show her the star that Teacher Angelica gave her.

Bela: “Wowa, I got a star. I am a winner!”

Then she went on looking for Teacher Maica to show her the star too and she said the same thing.

Bela: “Teacher, look I have a star. I am a winner!”

And she proudly shows her star to all the people at school. I have no plans of going to her school that day since I have a lot of tasks to finish but my mom called me and ask me to go there since Bela was really so proud of her star. And so as soon as she sees me when they were dismissed from class, she excitedly showed me her star too.

And when Howell reached home, Bela said:

Bela: “Dad, I got a star. Take my picture.”

And he gladly poses for the camera.

And so even though we were not able to buy a Rackmount monitor because we used the money to enroll her to the Galileo Program, it is all worth it.

Bela is Sick Again & Etc, Etc

I am currently on training the whole week but since things are really busy at the office, I still have to drop by at the office to finish some pending tasks. At the end of the day, I am so tired that I don’t have the energy left to update my blogs.

I have a lot of stories about Bela that I want to post here. I promise to post them soon. But before I totally forget about them, let me make a list here:

1. Family Day celebration of Toddlers Unlimited at Tagaytay Highlands

2. Bela’s first Star from her Galileo Program

3. Bela’s first day of class at Halili Cruz School of Ballet

===

Bela has fever since yesterday. Howell noticed that her temperature is a little hot when she woke up after her afternoon nap. And even she herself admitted that she is sick.

Bela: “Mommy I have awie. My neck is hot. I want to drink my strawberry medicine.”

After drinking her medicine:

Bela: “I’m okay now. Good job Strawberry medicine.”

Since I am on training the whole week, I can’t take a leave so my mom and my dad brought Bela to her doctor this morning. She has tonsillitis.

She still has low grade fever and she is still not active which is a clear sign that she is still not feeling well.

Hope my baby gets better soon.

On cars

My daughter will be going to school five times a week this coming June and my parents will be taking her to school everyday. Her school does not provide school service for their students so we have no choice but to leave our car with my parents so they have something to use to take Bela to school everyday. This means that Howell and I will have no car starting June and we have to commute to and from work everyday. So we have been thinking to buy a second car that we can use while we leave our first car for Bela’s use.

Car for us is more of a need than a luxury. We find it very convenient to have a car especially we have a toddler since it makes it very easy and very convenient for us to go to different places. That is the reason why we bought a Used Kia four years ago. I got pregnant and a brand new car is something that we can’t afford that time and so we just decided to buy a second hand car since we really find the need for a car for our convenience.

We initially wanted a brand new car but then I found the site of Autotropolis.com. From their site, I was able to look at different car models and car brands that we are considering like Kia, Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi. Their site almost has a million of cars listed so we were really given lot choices to choose from and we can even search by price range so it is very easy for us to search for a car that we want base on our budget. What I like about their site is they even provide Car reviews so we get to learn more about the car that we are considering, its strengths and its cons, which can really help us make our decisions. And the best thing about their site is that they provide incentives like Kia Rebates which can give us big discounts.

I got so excited after checking out their site as it even provide pictures of the cars ,that I immediately requested for an online quote. We still have a lot of time before June but my husband and I really wanted to prepare for it and hopefully we get to buy our second car soon.

Dining Out with Bela

It is difficult to dine out if you have a toddler in tow. As with Bela, she can’t seem to stay in one place for a maximum of 10 minutes, we always choose restaurants that are not crowded so Bela has a lot of room to go around without disturbing the other diners. We also prefer quite restaurants so Bela will not be distracted as she easily gets scared with crowded and very noisy establishments.

We only have a few favorite restaurants where we always dine in for lunch or dinner that is very convenient for families and since we are almost always out on a weekend, we are already getting sick of their food and so we wanted to try something new.

If only I can find a site like Westword, maybe we won’t have a hard time finding a restaurant. Westword is the best source for any information like news and entertainment but what I like about their site is their section for tips and guide about restaurants like Denver Restaurants. The restaurants in their site are listed by category – price, location, restaurants features, and cuisine so it is very easy to find a restaurant based on our preference. I can even check out their reviews to get views from their critics.

If there is a site like this here, it won’t really be hard to find a variety of restaurants that we can try every time we are dining out.

Bela, My Ballerina

Tomorrow will be Bela’s first day at the Halili Cruz School of Ballet. We went there two weeks ago to inquire and to check out the place and let Bela see it to gauge if she is really interested to have a ballet lessons. She is a big fan of June (the ballerina from the Little Einsteins) and she kept on saying that she wants to dance like June.


When we arrived there, she saw the kids wearing their tutus and leotards and we were allowed to observe their Baby Ballet Class. Upon seeing the kids dance, she immediately asked me to change her clothes to her pink uniform. Of course the stage daddy and the stage mommy got really excited that we purchased a uniform that same day. We would have wanted Bela to have a trial class that day also but we are already late for the class and they are kind of strict with that.

The following Saturday, as soon as she opens her eyes, she said “Mommy, I want to change to my pink uniform. I want to go the ballet school.” She know that Saturday is her time for ballet lessons as I told her about it the night before and she was all excited when she woke up. We planned to attend a trial class first before we enroll her for 2 months but Bela was not feeling well that day. We are already on our way to Halili when she vomited twice and so we decided to just go home.

Tomorrow, Howell and I have to do a lot of tasks in the morning before Bela’s class in the afternoon. Hope we will make it this time for her first day at the Baby Ballet class at Halili Cruz School of Ballet.

Mind Specialist School for Bela this June

Last Saturday, before going to Halili Cruz School of Ballet for Bela’s ballet class, we dropped by at Mind Specialist School to enroll Bela for their summer program. I initially signed up for their Phonetics, Arts, Music and Movement class but we decided to enroll her to their Reading and Writing class instead to prepare her for what she will expect this coming June. And since most of her future classmates are also enrolled at these classes, we figured that it will be a good opportunity for her to adjust to the new kids around her before classes officially begin this June.

Since it is Howell’s first time to visit the school, Miss Beth, gave us a tour of the school facilities. She showed us all the different rooms for all their class levels, their audio visual room (it would be better though if their AV room has home theatre seating) where students can watch educational show as part of their activities in class (I think they do this once a week), they even have a computer room where kids can explore the computer at an early age.

Miss Beth also showed us their worksheets and I was impressed. Their worksheets are really colorful and are full of drawings to encourage the kids to do their worksheets. They also have their own worksheets for their Chinese subject. The also have a third folder where teachers write anecdotal reports for each kid every week. These three folders are sent home every Friday so parents can see how their kids are progressing in school. Miss Beth even showed us pictures of their activity last week where they rented a speed boat and jet ski and it was parked right outside the school’s garage since their theme for that month is transportation. So it is indeed a mix progressive and traditional school which I think is the best set up for Bela’s age.

I have no plans to pay the reservation fee for this coming school year that day as I want to think about it more but after the tour and the sort of orientation that Beth gave us, I got really convince that MSS is the right school for Bela for this coming school year so we paid the reservation too that day.

So there, it will be Mind Specialist School for Bela this coming school year and we are really leaving TU. She has to go to school 5x a week already by June and it would be too much for her since TU is kind of far from us. I am glad that we finally found a school for Bela for this coming school year that we really like and we really feel will be a good training ground for her before she goes to big school either by 2010 or 2011.

Galileo Enrichment Learning Program

Bela started attending the Galileo enrichment program for English and Math that is being offered at Toddlers Unlimited. The Galileo Enrichment Learning Program is an after school program for preschool and grade school students, and it aims to improve academic aptitude by cultivating a mastery of English and Math skills and developing an early love for learning.

She can actually start with the Galileo program when she turned three years old, but then I know December and January will be a busy month for us so I decided to enroll her to the program just this month. She attended a one week trial class on the last week of January and so far, we like the program.

According to the website of Galileo, the English program aims to equip the learner with the fundamental skills needed to understand English language in the long run while the Math program aims to equip the learners with the skills and mastery that is essential in understanding mathematics.

Bela attends class 3x a week and every session, Teacher Angelica (Bela’s Galileo teacher) have different interesting activities for Bela like tracing letters using sand, doing alphabet puzzles playing with flash cards, blocks and beads or any activity that will make learning English and Math fun.

Bela already has a good knowledge of her alphabet and numbers but one thing that I like about this program is they have worksheets that can practice Bela with her writing since writing is one thing that she really hates doing. She can’t sit still for more than five minutes to finish her worksheets every time we are doing her assignment at home so we really hope that this program will train her and prepare her for this coming school year since they will already have reading and writing when she starts school this June.

When Bela first brought home an assignment from her Galileo class I was challenging my mom if she can make Bela do her homework. My mom is a kinder teacher for 25 years and she said that nothing is impossible for her with her experience but then when we started to ask Bela to sit down with us and do her homework, it was really a big challenge for us since we can never really ask her to concentrate on what she is doing. Her assignment that time was to trace the letter B and to encircle the letter B’s that she can find and it took my mom three hours but she still was not successful with Bela.

That is why I decided to postpone my plan to buy a Chanel j12 and instead use the money that I was able to save to enroll Bela to the Galileo program. Hope the program will really help her prepare for Jr. Nursery.

Bela is Sick

My baby is sick. She vomited after she finishes her first bottle of milk when she woke up last Saturday morning. This is just a usual thing for Bela since she has gag reflex. She easily vomits if she feels her hair inside her mouth so I thought there is really nothing to worry about. And besides she is still very energetic and she is very excited to go to her trial class for her ballet lesson at Halili Cruz School of Ballet.

So we left around 10:30 AM and we dropped by first at Mind School Specialist to enroll her for their summer program and pay the reservation for this coming school year. She vomited again on our way there but I still did not suspect anything as she even played at the school’s romp area and she even explored the toys in her future classroom when Miss Beth (MSS Secretary) gave us a tour again as it is Howell’s first time to visit the school.

Then we left MSS around 12nn and she kept on asking for iced tea since she got thirsty after playing at the romp. Then after her first sip of her iced tea, she vomited again so we decided to just go home and just reschedule her trial class at Halili next Saturday.

When we reached home she is still active and her temperature is okay. The whole afternoon pass and she did not vomit again although she consumes less bottle of milk that day but she always wants to drink water. She went to bed around 10 PM and then she suddenly woke up and vomited again and when we checked her temperature, she already has a low grade fever. I called my mom in panic as this is the first time that Bela got this sick so Howell and I are not used to her being this way.

My mom gave her Paracetamol and she fell asleep after that. The next morning she still has low grade fever (37.7) but she drinks her milk and she is always asking for noodles. She did not vomit the whole day and her fever was gone so we decided not to bring her to the emergency room as I really hate the ER at Chinese (only interns will entertain you there and I am sure they will do a lot of blood tests on Bela and I don’t think I can stand seeing my daughter cry while they are doing all these tests). We will bring her to her pediatrician tomorrow and I am really praying that she will get better as I don’t want to her be confine.

School Hunting, Second Stop: CHILD Preschool Part 2

We had a trial class at CHILD Preschool in Tomas Morato last Tuesday. (The Little Apprentice School in Alabang has the same owner as CHILD Preschool).

The guard directed us to one of the rooms (since nobody is in their office to entertain us). Teacher Rosanne (the school director) is substituting for the class since the teacher assigned for the class is absent. Bela greeted them and she even said “I’m back!”

The kids where playing when we arrived and Bela joined them. But then when one of the kids started to cry Bela got scared and she wanted to go out of the room. Since there is only 1 teacher per class (maximum of 12 students per class), Teacher Rosanne was not able to convince Bela to go back since she is also busy with her other students. We tried to convince Bela to go back but no matter how much we try, she doesn’t want to go back to join the class.

CHILD school has worksheets already for all their students but since Bela went out of the class, we were not able to see it also. We waited for the class to finish so we can talk to Teacher Rosanne and she said that she never really expected that Bela will really participate since it is just the first day so she is encouraging us to go back again for another trial.

But we decided not to go back to CHILD for another trial class since from what we observed after attending a trial class at three schools, we kind of like Mind Specialist School among the three.