shopping online

I've just recently discovered ebay, just months ago. You could find a lot of bargains in there. From ebay I looked in on Amazon, and other sites offering online shopping. Among such sites I've uncovered is Ebates. The 'shop' offers cash back whenever you shop online. To a sucker for discounts like me, it is a very attractive site. It sure beats paying for a purchase its full price. They also give out coupons for members. And membership is free! I've recently started browsing through their Apple store. We've actually been considering buying another laptop for the longest time. Since I started staying home, the laptop mostly stays home with me. So the need for one is so much more greater now. I've browsed through their Apple products and some of their offers are very promising. Will ask Ramil to look into it.

hockey!

Ramil and I were watching tv the other day when sports violence were shown on tv. Clips of soccer players throwing punches at each other were shown. More violent were the clips of hockey players. They could get really violent during a game. It seems that with hockey, players are more susceptible to bursts of violence and anger. I remember one of my favorite movies back then was The Mighty Ducks. The movie was my first exposure to hockey. The game could be very addicting. Very similar to soccer for me, I could easily get hooked to the game. There are a lot of NHL forums out there. Though I don't feel up to joining one, being ignorant with the teams, players, etc. But I could while away my time given a chance to watch a game.

faces of Mateo 4

sleepyhead

One of the only activities that our baby does right now, aside from drink milk, is sleep. Mateo sleeps most of the time and yet with all those sleeptime, you'd think Ramil and I would be as well-slept as him. He wakes up almost every 2 hours which translates to insufficient shut-eye for us.

science+religion

My knowledge of different religions are very limited. Here in the Philippines, common religions are limited to 4 or 5. So I was very curious when I learned of Tom Cruise's 'practice', Scientology. It seems that different kinds of religions are still cropping up all over the place. Like Tom Cruise's Scientology, most of these newer affiliations are based on science and religion, veering away from unexplainable truths. One such religion I've heard is Supplementology, which claims to combine science and religion. These religions make me very curious. Not to the point that I would consider changing mine but it is always an advantage to know and learn other people's beliefs. Especially if their beliefs would offer a fresh view of things.

job-hunting

At around this same time last year, I got several job offers. It so happened that a headhunter got hold of my resume and is very eager to find me a job. It was very convenient having a headhunter handle your applications. They inform you of job openings, schedule you for tests and interviews, etc. Plus they have other info you might not have had you applied on your own - how well the company is doing, benefits, salary, etc.

There are a lot of headhunters who can help you if you want to look for a job. A headhunter is very much like a matchmaker though, they have to have that innate sense of what you want in a job and the job that would work for you. A.E. Feldman Associates, Inc. is one such recruitment firm. They have vast experience in job-matching in several fields including financial and risk management services, legal and legal support services, communications and technology, human resources consulting, and luxury products. Getting their services would mean a walk in the park in terms of landing that perfect job.

faces of Mateo 3

our little angel

Ramil and I have been trying hard to get a shot of Mateo whenever he gives small quick smiles. We haven't been lucky. But my mom was.

According to a book I've read, babies' first smiles are because of gas and not a voluntary thing. Although this smile was totally involuntary, the picture totally wins me over.

how to get a millionaire

I just found a way to make money, lots of money. Unfortunately, the method wouldn't be make Ramil very happy. Hehe! How nice would it be to date a millionaire? Believe it or not, it is possible. My friends and I used to joke before that it's a surefire way of getting rich. Find a rich, old guy to marry. With so many dating options online, you just might hit gold. But like gold, they don't come as often as you want. Still, miracles can happen. You just might find yourself with the man of your dreams and he comes loaded with financial freedom. Ha!

faces of Mateo 2

pooping face

Mateo has this expression whenever he is pooping. It just cracks us up :) The first time Ramil and I noticed this expression, we didn't think much of it. Then we started noticing it everytime he is pooping. Everytime we see this kind of face now we go, uh-oh!

saying goodbye to the red car

We almost got rid of the red car last November. Ramil and I were almost convinced to buy the new Chevrolet Aveo sedan. We got so engrossed in shopping for a new car. We went to different car stores and did everything except the test drives. With all the hassle our red Lancer has been giving us, we thought it wouldn't be nice putting our then soon-to-come baby to the same hassles. Unfortunately, we recognized the additional costs of a monthly car payment would be very difficult with the financial adjustments we need to make with the new baby. We even considered getting a second-hand car instead. Again, we got so engrossed in shopping for a second-hand car. We bought buy and sell magazines and looked at used cars online. If we have enough money, I would have opted for the new Honda Civic. Again, realities of baby expenses refused to be shaken away. Since Mateo arrived, we resort to borrowing my dad's Revo whenever we need to bring Mateo with us. For now, a brand new car will be somewhere there in our plans.

baby blues

We finally brought our baby home. After staying in my parents' house in QC for almost 2 weeks, Ramil and I decided to go back to our place in Taytay and really start the nitty-gritty of family life. Another reason is Ramil's paternity leave which ended last Friday.

So yesterday, Ramil went to school and I was left with Mateo. My life right now is doing baby duty almost 24/7. Mateo's schedule leaves very little for anything else. Add my frustration regarding breastfeeding and it's my bet I am suffering from the baby blues. Life as we know it, has ended. We are no longer the carefree couple we used to be. No more eating out whenever we don't feel like cooking. No more dvd marathons. No more late night outs. No more lounging in bed until noon. No more uninterrupted 8-hour sleeps. Really, nothing can prepare anyone for this. Noone who hasn't had a baby can fully grasp how difficult it is when somebody describes how it will be. That a small creature could take over two people's lives completely. Books say it will payoff. When you see that first smile meant specially for you. When you hear the first 'mama' or 'dada'. When you hear that first laugh. When you go through each and every milestone of your baby and you are there to experience it with him.

Even when Mateo was still inside me, Ramil and I would constantly joke about selling the little guy when it gets too difficult for us. The joke has had more mention now than ever. Hehe! But we will wait. For that first smile. For those first words. For that first laugh. For all those firsts. Then we will see.

podcast

I am still on an indefinite maternity leave. Before I left, I had to distribute my classes to several teachers. It sucks to be a teacher when you have to be absent from work. You have to prepare things so that the kids have something to do when you're not around. It could take a lot of reasoning before a leave from work could be approved. I should tell Ramil something about free podcast hosting. He could definitely take advantage of that whenever he needs to be absent. He could just ask his students to access his lessons if he's not around. I'm sure he would find this very promising.

going against the norm

Mateo had his first check-up since being discharged from the hospital last Friday. He weighed 3.14 kg upon birth and we were very excited to find out how much he gained/lost. We were betting on a weight gain since he is definitely rounder though I've read that babies tend to lose weight during the first weeks of life. Well, I guess our little angel is defying that trend. His pediatrician was very surprised to learn that he tipped the scale at 3.6 kg! That's almost half a kilo in 11 days! Ramil and I had this funny urge to put him on a diet. Hehe! Not all those pounds went to fatness though, his 48 cm length also increased to 52 cm. So it's safe to say that Mateo lost no time in adjusting to the outside world.

funny videos

A lot of people are hooked on You Tube nowadays. You get to see a lot of interesting videos. Ramil and I even tried watching some episodes of the new season of Smallville. It's currently the main choice of people whenever they want to share videos to other people on the internet. Just browse through the available videos and you'd get all sorts of people seemingly trying to be stars in their own videos. I found a site that offers purely funny videos. I could always use a good laugh. The site has tons of hilarious and interesting videos. They also have an 'extreme video' category where you get to watch people do crazy things. They're also not limited to videos only, they also have funny pictures and celebrity photos, games, greeting cards, and message board so you can interact with its online community. Just like YouTube, the site could get somebody hooked and entertained for hours.

in love

With my boys.

These two people have been making my day lately. I only have to look at them to know that God has blessed me with so much. Nevermind that we're not as financially comfortable as we want to. I have all the riches I'll ever need.

migrating

I've always been exposed to overseas filipino workers since I was a kid, my father being a seaman. Aside from him, I have aunts and uncles who also work abroad. Recently, my cousin moved to New Zealand because of a job. A lot of people I know are moving to different countries, either to just work or to migrate. I know a friend who worked in several middle east countries, including Dubai. She is actually considering bringing her whole family there. Thus, they are currently looking at real estate in Dubai to look for a place they can get. Ramil has some relatives also in Canada and they are pestering us to apply for migration also. The option is still up in the air for us but if things don't get better for us here, we just might follow the bandwagon.

faces of Mateo 1

our satisfied milk guzzler

This was taken right after consuming almost 3 batches of 2 oz of milk. We have yet to check his weight on his first pedia visit on Friday but judging by the enlargening chin and the now-cannot-be-seen neck, we don't need to guess that our little angel is on the road to fatness.

soaps

I've been addicted to one or two soap operas before. Try watching 3 consecutive episodes and these shows can get you hooked. The additional craze with Koreanovelas and other Asian soap operas can make me stay up until 11 pm just to watch. When I got pregnant, Ramil told me not to start watching any new soaps so I wouldn't be tempted to stay up late. So whenever a new soap would be shown on tv, we would hurriedly change the channel. These days though, it's not a problem for me. I've barely watched any tv since I gave birth. We've been so preoccupied with baby duties or with catching up on some sleep to find time to lounge around in front of the tv. We couldn't even take advantage of the cable subscription in my parents' house (we don't have cable at home). We don't feel too deprived though. It's a better treat to watch our baby sleep.

I happened upon a cool site on soaps though. If you're somebody who are fond of American soaps like Days of our Lives, All My Children, etc. Then this site is definitely for you. It contains a comprehensive list of soaps and has rankings and all. It also has updates on what's been happening in a certain storyline. If you've experienced discussing and analyzing happenings on a certain show you're watching, it is very similar to that. They even have polls asking whether you agree with what happened in the story or not. How soap-aholic is that! ;)

This is a sponsored post. View my disclosure policy.

moo

We are currently struggling right now with breastfeeding. I say we because it has been a team effort so far, Me, Mateo, and Ramil. Mateo has successfully fed from me yesterday. Or so I thought.

Whenever he wakes up, it's usually because he's hungry. He usually wakes up every 2 hours more or less. He would cry, indicating that he is hungry. I've been trying to let him feed directly from me since the other day but I've been having problems satisfying his hunger. Ramil ends up making him around 2 oz. of formula milk after 10-15 minutes of trying to feed from me. I really don't know whether he is getting a lot of milk from those 10-15 minutes. Maybe the problem is my milk supply? or the way he's been suckling is not very effective in terms of getting the milk? Maybe it's both because he has developed a lazy habit of letting the milk flow into his mouth whenever he is drinking from his bottle and his milk intake seems to increase every day! Whenever I pump, I usually get 50-60 ml of breastmilk, or almost 2 oz. I am still fixed on the idea of feeding him 100% breastmilk so right now, I try to pump as much as I can so that we have breastmilk to give him after feeding from me. I guess it will be a test of wills as early as now. Hehe!

More on my breastfeeding situation later, gotta go pump.

couch potatoes

Eversince we got married, our major form of pasttime is the tv. Ramil and I even morphed into jologs when we got our own tv. Then we got hooked on watching DVDs, even finishing 5 seasons of Smallville in a little over a week. When we were still shopping for a tv, we initially wanted to get a mini home theater system, we wanted to get full experience whenever we are enjoying our 'couple time' in front of the tv. We would even want to get an HDTV if we have the money. We even saw a Samsung LCD HDTV on 50% off when we were shopping for our tv. I remember Ramil and me looking at it for a long time before we were able to finally accept reality that despite the very attractive offer, it's still too pricey for us. It would go very well with a nice Samsung Home Theater System also, like a Samsung 56" 1080 lines DLP HDTV. Good thing though that we have a small house right now, Ramil and I feel that buying such great entertainment systems would be a waste to put in our small living room. For now, these are high on our things-we-will-buy-when-we-can-afford-to-throw-money-already list.

superman!

fight club

I've always been intrigued why some people are so fascinated by sports that involve fighting. Guys are, understandably, usually more inclined towards such watching such things as wrestling, boxing, etc. Just like cock-fighting, a lot of people like to make bets on such fights. The recent Pacquiao-Morales fight made big money for a lot of people who bet on Pacquiao. Mixed martial arts fans (MMA) are very inclined also towards betting. They don't just watch, they also put their money on a player. There are a lot of MMA forums out there that provide online betting for MMA fans. I guess it would be easy to try this out.

first day parents

Ramil and I are lucky parents. Mateo has been a well-behaved newborn. We think God gave us such a good little angel because Ramil and I sucked from day 1. Hehe!

I was dead-set on breastfeeding Mateo even before I gave birth. There were just so much more advantages of giving him breastmilk than formula. So right after giving birth, even when I was still groggy from the meds, I was picking a fight with the nurses because I kept on telling them that I plan to breastfeed and I don’t want any formula given to my baby. So just a few hours after delivery, I was up and walking in the nursery to breastfeed (or at least try to). I wasn’t very successful the first time, Mateo wasn’t able to suck well (both of us being beginners and all). The next day though, since I was able to get to the nursery right before feeding time, he sucked well and hard. The first time he latched on and sucked, I wanted to pull the little angel’s mouth right away. The whole thing was really painful; I was cringing the whole time. When I returned Mateo to his bassinet, the nurse gave him back to me and told me he wants more because he’s still crying. It seemed that I wasn’t producing that much milk yet. The remaining times I would visit Mateo in the nursery, they were already done with feeding time so I was left with nothing but a sleeping baby. I still spend minutes just holding him and looking at him. One of the nurses suggested rooming-in but I didn’t want to risk any kind of infection from the visitors.

He slept the whole time on the way to my parents’ house last Wednesday. Since Ramil and I live on our own, we decided to stay at my parents’ for a week or two until I feel better and until we get the hang of things. We got home at around 2 pm and by 5 pm, he was starting to wake up. It was obvious he was hungry because his mouth was opening wide, as if trying to look for something. So I tried to breastfeed him. He latched on easily but after almost an hour of trying to feed him, he would still cry whenever I would remove him from my breasts. I would rest for a few minutes and then try again. This went on for hours until I was crying every time he would latch on because it was getting really painful already. Ramil was very supportive; he was there with me the whole time inside our room, trying to sooth me with wisecracks and kisses. By 10 pm, I was telling Ramil to go out and buy some formula milk. When he got back we immediately fed Mateo and he was asleep in less than 5 minutes. Poor baby, we kind of like starved him the whole time I guess because my milk wasn’t enough.

The next day, Ramil and I went to SM Fairview and we bought an Avent breastpump. My milk was getting stronger yet I couldn’t feed Mateo from my breasts because I have sore and cracked nipples already. Our solution was to pump the milk so that it would continue to come. I got around 20 ml of milk the first time I pumped. I took malunggay capsules and drank a lot of fluids. I am now getting around 50-60 ml of milk every 2 hours! Plus, Mateo has been feeding from me from time to time. It seems though that my milk is not enough to keep up with him. We still find ourselves preparing an additional 40-50 ml of formula every feeding time to keep him satisfied.

Aside from being a very demanding milk consumer, Mateo hasn’t given us much of a hassle. We would only hear him cry when he wakes up because he’s hungry. We are lucky parents. I must say that Ramil and I are enjoying the challenges of being parents. It’s very demanding, we find ourselves attending to Mateo’s needs every 2 hours, but it has been very fulfilling.

poker!

One of my recently learned games is poker and I must say that it could get quite addicting! I've been browsing the net for poker games, etc. I couldn't believe that there are a lot of poker communities available on the net. One of the largest that I've encountered is PokerDIY - A free service to find LIVE poker games, it is an online community like MySpace. With some recent online gambling law, more players are looking for live poker games. With the service, poker players are allowed to search for live poker games by creating an event for a game and invite users, whether external or internal. Users can also setup group of friends, setup leagues, and track game results. Very extensive! There must be a lot of die-hard poker players out there who would find this worth a look. You may also take a look at this for those who find this interesting.

birth story

caution: a very long read

So I guess most of the people who know that we took childbirth preparation classes would want to hear how it went. Well, it was a relatively easy delivery because it didn’t really take me that long but due to several factors, Ramil and I weren’t able to do Lamaze.

Sunday, 1/14/2007, 7:30 am - As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I had the bloody show when I woke up. So we walked for 30 minutes in the morning and another 30 minutes in the late afternoon.

Monday, 1/15/2007 1:30 am – I woke up with the desperate urge to go to the bathroom to urinate. However, I haven’t reached the bathroom yet when I felt fluid, which I thought was urine, flowing out of me. A lot more came out when I reached the bathroom. So I washed up, not thinking that my water bag broke already. I went back to bed and after around five minutes, I felt pain in my tummy and lower back. It felt like mild diarrhea and dysmenorrhea at the same time. I decided to just wait it out. Since Ramil was already nervous since I had the bloody show, I opted not to wake him and to just wait until I’m sure that labor is underway already. The contractions were coming regularly so I got up from bed and walked around our living room to hopefully hasten it. I also started monitoring the duration and interval of the contractions. They were lasting for only 20-30 seconds each but they were already around 5 minutes apart! I didn’t know which stage I was in already because they’re supposed to last 45-60 minutes each once they are that close together.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 2:30 am - I finally decided to wake Ramil up and I gave him a narrative of what has happened so far. We decided to just also wait it out. We went back to bed and tried to go back to sleep.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 3:00 am - I would wake up every time a contraction would hit me. They were becoming too painful to ignore. I would find myself making small sounds every time I feel a contraction while Ramil would gently knead my back in an effort to make it more bearable somehow.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 4:00 am – I got up and told Ramil that maybe we should go, although the contractions were only 30 seconds long, they were still 5 minutes apart and they are so much more painful.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 5:00 am – We arrived at the delivery room of St. Luke’s. I was examined and told that I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I was given a non-stress test and the resident on duty told me that I am to be given an enema and then hooked up to an IV.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 7:00 am – I was still in the delivery room and very frustrated. Because of my change in OB, the residents couldn’t quite seem to understand that Ramil and I are going to do Lamaze. Since I was still 2 weeks away from my due date, my new ob wasn’t able to give me any admitting orders and people seem to be content to just let me lie there and wait for my ob.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 9:30 am – The contractions were so much more painful now, I would find myself moaning and holding on to the hospital bed railings whenever a contraction would come. My new ob finally arrived, did an IE on me, found out I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced. She told me she’ll just give a light sedative so I can sleep and deal with the contractions better. I wasn’t really able to tell her we’re still doing Lamaze, I guess it was too easy to just agree with her because my coach (Ramil) wasn’t with me (he wasn’t allowed to go inside the delivery room) to help me cope with the contractions.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 10:30 am – I fell asleep but would wake up from time to time because of very painful contractions.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 1:40 pm – Mateo finally came out. The timeline wasn’t very clear to me, it’s not like there was a clock I can refer to. The pushing was relatively quick but hard. I was given a saddle block, something very similar to an epidural block but give intramuscularly instead of through an epidural catheter. I was given a dose that would let me participate more in the pushing, just enough to help me deal with pain. There was a time during the pushing stage when my ob was telling me not to hold it in, to just push more and I answered by shouting at them ‘masakit nga!’ Hehe! I even had the strength to try to stop one of the nurses from pushing my tummy down. When Mateo came out, he was immediately brought to my chest and upon seeing him, my thoughts were ‘he has Ramil’s mouth’ and ‘why is his hair curly? Ramil and I both don’t have curly hair’. It seems that he doesn’t have curly hair, it was just because of the wetness and all. He was brought to my breasts to suckle and I remember feeling so relieved that we are both ok and feeling so happy to finally see him and hold him.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 4:00 pm – I woke up in the recovery room and kept on asking any nurse who would check on me if I could be brought to my room already.

Monday, 1/15/2007, 6:30 pm – I was brought to my room. Ramil and I finally saw each other. I was still a bit groggy from the anesthesia so I immediately fell asleep.

Monday 1/15/2007, 11:00 pm – I was finally allowed to go to the nursery to try to breastfeed Mateo.

Wednesday 1/17/2007, 1:00 pm – I was discharged from St. Luke’s. Ramil and I started our first day as hands-on parents (more on this on another post).

So there, that was how my delivery went. We are very thankful that I was able to do a normal delivery. Good thing also that Mateo decided to come out at 38 weeks. If he stayed inside for another week or two, he might have been too big for me to delivery normally. Although Ramil and I were disappointed that we weren’t able to do Lamaze, we realize that it might have been a blessing in disguise. If we pursued it, maybe, we could have done it also but it might have taken me until Monday night or the whole experience might be too traumatic for me to think about after. We don’t really know but while I was carrying Mateo in my arms when we were going home, it didn’t really matter to me. The delivery is just like how a wedding is to a marriage. The more important thing is what comes after.

funky new phones

My sister bought a new phone last month, a Motorola RAZR V3i. I like the phone a lot! I suddenly prefer its sleek flip-top design to my old Nokia 6600. While my phone is way too bulky, my sister's is slim and very handy. I suddenly found myself borrowing her phone just to imagine what it feels like to have one.

Then I found out that Motorola has new models, Motorola KRZR K1 and Motorola Z3. If I thought the V3i is sleek, the K1 is so much sleeker. It's so much slimmer and sophisticated-looking. But the best among them is the Z3, it is an even sleeker slide phone and provides the user with a big screen that serves as a full screen viewfinder when used as a digital camera. I showed my sister the phones and she was suddenly wishful she bought the K1 or the Z3. I guess I can only do more wishful thinking especially with Mateo with us already though if I had money to spare, I think I'd get me one of these new cellphones.

mateo alexander

Our long wait is finally over.

Mateo Alexander Adolfo Herrera
January 15, 2007, 1:40 pm
6 pounds 15 ounces (3140 grams), 48 cm
Apgar score: 9

online dating, anyone?

I've known people who were able to find their special someone through the internet. This venue can be very risky though because you don't really know whether the person you are interacting with is real. Some of my friends have been duped one too many times and yet they still entertain the thought of actually finding that right person online. I guess it's not very different from actual dating. Sometimes you also get to meet foul characters even when you're dating the conventional way. Nowadays, love stories made in cyberworld are getting more common by the minute. If speed dating is not so far-fetched now, I guess online dating isn't also. There are even Free Dating sites that can be appealing to people searching for Mr. or Ms. Right.

Mateo's friends

Despite our baby being a boy, some people find it appropriate to give him a stuff toy. Mateo now has 3 stuff toys:

Pam-pam the elephant

This cute elephant was given by a student last Christmas season. I initially wanted to name it Pinky the elephant becuase of her pink ears, hands, and feet. Ramil, however, strongly disagreed with the name until we decided on Pam-pam (a name my crazy sister thought of).

Ula the koala

This koala was a pasalubong from the grandpa (my dad) from Australia. He was able to come home last December 31 and one of first things he gave me was this toy - for his first apo.

unnamed bear

This unnamed bear was given by an aunt last Christmas also. Not much personality to the bear, hence the difficulty in naming it.

We haven't actually bought any toy for Mateo. Whatever toy he has now (he has several rattles), were all given by very generous people in our lives. Ramil and I wants a crib mobile for him though (*hint*) so he has something to look at while lying on his crib the first few months.

bad colds

I have been suffering from colds and cough for about a week now. Bad. My ob was very concerned because she doesn't want to risk any bacterial infection. During the whole duration of my pregnancy, I've had more than 3 occassions where I seem to be developing bad colds. These started at around November of last year when the weather started getting cold. We've actually considered getting a humidifier. The weather is getting colder and it's even wreaking havoc on my skin stretched by pregnancy, making it dry. With the worsening cold, especially in the morning, I've found my pregnant tummy getting itchy again.

Nowadays, I wake up with a sore throat, a clogged nose, and an itchy, dry tummy. Thinking that Mateo might not appreciate such conditions, we are thinking of doing something about it. Since a humidifier is not a very popular equipment in a Philippine household, I decided to do a little bit of researching on it. It seems that there are several types of humidifiers. I was able to get very helpful information discussing and comparing different types of humidifiers. According to a site I visited, we can choose to have a whole house humidifier or only a single room humidifier. Since our house is pretty small, I think a single room humidifier would do. Now I just have to check out prices of humidifiers the next time we go malling.

come out, come out

The waiting game is getting too long for me. I am currently on my 38th week and am so eager for Mateo to come out, I don't even think about the pain I will be feeling during delivery. Unfortunately, my ob, Dra. Olympia, is already scheduled for her eye operation to correct a retinal tear next week. Which means she might not be around when I give birth! I had a check-up (my last with her) last Friday and I brought the pelvimetry result she requested. According to the pelvimetry, the size of my pelvis (or the opening) is below normal but above LOW normal. Still has a good chance for a normal delivery as long as Mateo is not an extra huge baby! After explaining the results to me, she wrote the referral letter to her reliever and Ramil and I proceeded to Dra. Cathy Lim.

My new ob is also great. She's younger, explains things a lot also, and does a painless IE. She also happens to be Tintin Bersola's ob which prompted my mom to comment that she might be an expensive doctor, haha! According to her my cervix is still closed (to my disappointment) and I might definitely be back for another check-up after a week. After the check-up she informed me that I might experience a bit of bleeding for the next two days because of the IE she just did. Also, after numerous free check-ups we've had with Dra. Olympia, Ramil and I finally had to pay for one. Hehe!

I had no bleeding last Friday, no bleeding yesterday, and then when I woke up this morning I discovered a brownish-reddish streaks on my underwear upon urinating! Of course, I was excited but confused at the same time. Is this it, the 'bloody show' that precedes labor? According to What to Expect When You're Expecting:
"This show usually means labor will start within 24 hours - but it could be as much as several days away."
Ha! Very helpful! I already know that I can give birth anytime, thank you! So the waiting game is still on. After discovering the 'show' I urged Ramil to walk with me around our subdivision, in the hopes of getting those foolproof-labor-is-starting contractions. We walked for 30 minutes...nothing but the feeling of heaviness. I don't know who is more makulit, Mateo or me.

protection

I've been on the net so much these past few weeks. With all the sites I've been visiting, the paranoid in me worries about what our laptop might be getting. Ever since we've had our trusty laptop 2 years ago, we've tried out different antivirus softwares. What we have now is the Norton virus protection. Works well for us so far. Norton has 3 different Norton programs. It can be quite confusing for a not-so-techie person to determine which program would be best. A comparison of the three Norton programs would be really helpful before deciding which antivirus would be best for you. I think if you want a simple, basic anti-virus software, Norton AntiVirus 2007 would be best and also the cheapest. Norton SystemWorks is very similar to the AntiVirus with just the added feature of being able to back-up, restore, and optimize your hard-drive for a few additional dollars. The best for those who are on the net a lot would be the Norton Internet Security 2007, it can even be installed on 3 computers!

on parenting

I took a leave today from my maternity leave to conduct PCTC (Parent-Child-Teacher Conference) with my former TIC class. PCTC's have always been somewhat of a dreaded thing for me and my co-teachers. We always get all sorts of parents. Good thing though that my class' parents are mostly nice parents. Not to mention that they feel obliged to be nicer to a very pregnant teacher, hehe!

My experiences so far with different kinds of parents has brought confusion as to how parenting should be. We discovered that we have good kids with crappy parents, makes one wonder how such parents could raise such great kids. There's also another side to this coin: crappy kids with great parents, makes one wonder why such kids turned out to be lacking when they have great people for parents. Makes me wonder what kind of parents we will be like and the kind of kids we are going to have.

car refinance

We have a timeline: absolutely 0 debt within 2 years, our own house and/or car in 5 years. We actually almost bought a car (under an approved car loan) last November thus, the need to take stock of our plans. If we went ahead and took the loan, surely we might have to take out a Car Refinance loan in a few years. This is actually a great alternative for those who are lagging on an existing loan. RateGenius is a site that offers car refinance services. Refinancing is the practice of looking for another lender willing to take on your existing loan for a better rate, to extend the loan term, or any other changes you might want on your loan. A very noble way of saving people who have bad loans!

cell phones

Ramil went through 4 cell phones so far in a year. The first one was taken by a pickpocket in the MRT North station so we borrowed an old phone from my mom but then after a few months, my mom somehow needed the phone. After this, my sensitive sister gave back Ramil's old phone which we gave to her more than a year ago. However, I lost this phone because of my stupidity. Good thing, my sister bought an even newer phone so she again gave her old phone to Ramil which he is using now.

We've been looking at phones lately and I came across Verizon cell phones. It's been a very convenient site to visit. I get to check out phones without any hassle. They even offer free Verizon cell phones with some cellphone plans, very much like Globe and Smart. It's just a shame though that the carriers are US carriers only. They even give a full refund if you buy a phone from them and are not satisfied with it.

If only they ship to the Philippines, we just might order from them. For now, I simply entertain myself looking and comparing Verizon cell phones.

flash games

I discovered online flash games around 5 years ago. My former officemate has a bunch of really cool and funny flash games. I shared them with Ramil and he was hooked. I usually find him surfing the net to play games after that. One of our students with autism has this thing also for flash games and we even burned some games on a cd fo his birthday last July, was he happy about it! Good thing there are a lot of resources for free games online. This site is one of them, they have over 150 cool flash games and there's no need to register to play.

dry run